Jose Mourinho went on an extraordinary 12-minute rant following the abuse he took after Man United’s shock Champions League exit to Sevilla.
The furious Portuguese was clearly agitated and unsettled as he addressed the media on Friday.
But he was in defiant mood as he pointed out to the legacy he claims he will leave at Old Trafford when the time comes.
Fans were angry with his tactics against the Spaniards and there was a suggestion that board members were questioning his ability to truly take the club forward.
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However, Mourinho insisted that he has been very good for United.
And that the next manager, whenever that might be, will benefit greatly from his work.
Mourinho said: “One day when I leave the next manager will find here Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and, of course, David De Gea from many years ago.
“They will find players with a different mentality, quality, background and with a different status, know-how.
“For some reason you go to the Champions League quarter-finals like today and there are four clubs that are always there, always there.
“Barcelona is always there in the past seven, eight years – Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich.
“[Others] appear now and again, another club like my Inter Milan, some other clubs like Monaco last season.
“The good thing for me and the amazing feeling for me is that I am exactly on the same page as the owners, as Mr Woodward, Mr Arnold – we agree on everything,… on the investments that we have, the investments that we are going to do season after season.
“We are exactly on the same page, so life is good.”
On Sevilla: “Of course I’m better. I’m happy with what I saw in my players after the match. I’m happy that people were sad, that people were frustrated.
“I’m happy we were on exactly the same page and happy to see the boys coming back again in my page because we don’t have many days to be sad; we don’t have many days to be, something like, grieve so I’m happy the players come back exactly as myself.
Reaction: :We train very well, always. We don’t need a reaction to train better; the enthusiasm, organisation, every training session with us since day one the players know that.
The future?“I have an amazing job to do. I could be in another country with the league in the pocket. But I am here and I am going to be here and no way am I going to change my mentality.
“I don’t know if you know the expression but there is a code that I like in that “every wall is a door.” I am not going to run away or disappear or to cry because I heard a few boos.
“I’m not going to disappear from the tunnel, running immediately: the next match I will be the first to go out.
“I am not afraid of my responsibilities. When I was 20 I was a nobody in football; I was somebody’s son with a lot of pride.
“Now at 55 I am what I am, I did what I did because of work and because of talent and my mentality.
“So they can be together. I understand that for many, many years it was really hard for the people who don’t like me -‘ here he is again, here he wins again’.
“For 10 months I win nothing; the last title that I won was 10 months ago. I beat Liverpool, Chelsea, I lose against Sevilla and now is their moment to be happy.
“I learn that in my religious formation, be happy with others’ happiness. So be it, I am a really happy guy.”
Importance of Brighton in Saturday’s FA Cup tie?: “Every match is important, I didn’t know, I was not very objective when I told Sevilla is more important than Liverpool.
“For some fans the Liverpool game doesn’t matter which competition it is; it can be more important than any other match.
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“I’m pretty sure some of the United supporters would not change a victory against Liverpool for one vs Sevilla even if the defeat to Sevilla means we end the competition. Every match is different and important.”
Fans’ anger? “I say to the fans that the fans are the fans and have the right to their opinions and reactions but there is something that I used to call football heritage.
“The last time United won the Champions League which didn’t happen a lot of times, was in 2008. In 2017 they win the Europa League with me and go back into the Champions League.
In 2018 we win the group phase with 15 points out of a possible 18 and lose at home in the last 16.
“In seven years with four different managers, United once not qualify for Europe, were twice out in the group phase and the best was the quarter-finals.
“This is football heritage and if you want to go to the Premier League the last victory was 2012-13 and in the four consecutive seasons United finish fourth fifth, sixth and seventh.
So in the last four years the best was fourth. This is football heritage.
“And if the fans, that I will always respect, are disappointed then the ones I speak with know what is football heritage, what is a process and when I arrive.
“When I arrived at Real Madrid, do you know how many players had a quarter-final in the Champions League?
“Xabi Alonso with Liverpool, Iker Casillas with Real and Cristiano Ronaldo with United. All the others not even a quarter-final – that’s football heritage.
Statistics? In the last seven years the worst position of Manchester City in the PL was fourth, champions twice.
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That’s heritage.
“Do you know what is also heritage? Is that Nicolas Otamendi, Kevin de Bruyne, Fernandinho, David Silva, Rahemm Sterling, Dergio Aguero – they are investments from the past, not from the last two years: do you know how many of United players that left the club last season?