Charming Jose Mourinho might have had the press in the palm of their hand with his tale of a ‘hidden’ trip to Ibrox back in the day – but Record Sport’s Keith Jackson was right there with him, and reckons he’s telling fibs.
Mourinho is in Glasgow with his Fenerbahce team for the second leg of the Europa League last 16 tie.
The Special One has work to do after Barry Ferguson’s team did the job on him in Istanbul with a 3-1 victory. And all the mind games in his box of tricks came out as he addressed the press earlier today.
He doubled down on his claim that Rangers weren’t better than Fener last week and also claimed the Ibrox crowd may turn on Rangers if they try and play like they did in the first leg. But another comment that caught the eyes and ears of the Hotline Live team was when he told a tale about his first trip to Ibrox all the way back in 2003.
Mourinho’s version of events is that while he was managing Porto ahead of their famous UEFA Cup Final with Celtic, he popped his head in at Ibrox, where the Hoops won 2-1 on ‘Beach Ball Sunday’. The Hoops were miles behind Rangers in the league at that time, but had a trip to Seville coming up, and let their rivals know it by showering the pitch with beachballs while chanting ‘while you’re watching the Bill, we’ll be in Seville.’
Speaking on tonight’s live show, our team remember it vividly – and Keith even remembers an impromptu interview with Mourinho after the game after spotting him in the crowd. So much for anonymity!
Here’s the exchange between our men on Hotline Live that debunks Jose’s version of events.
Fraser Wilson: “He told a lovely story about the last time he was at Ibrox. He doesn’t remember a 2007 friendly with Chelsea, when Rangers beat them 2-0, but he does remember being behind enemy lines in the weeks before the 2003 UEFA Cup final.
Celtic won that game 2-1, that was ‘Beach Ball Sunday’, he was at Ibrox spying. He said he didn’t have to wear any wigs or fake moustaches because nobody knew him back then! He could wander about freely – ‘bliss’ as he put it.”
Keith Jackson: “He’s telling little fibs! I’ll tell you why I can tell you that with absolute certainty… we spotted him from the press box! Where you’re sitting just now, Fraser, is where the press box is these days. Back then, I’m pretty sure if memory serves, the press box was behind the director’s box, But we clocked him.
“It wasn’t as if nobody was paying attention to the fact Celtic were about to play Porto! We clocked him a few rows away from us. On the final whistle, a few of us went down. He knew that we knew who he was, and he was more than happy to conduct an impromptu interview from the main stand. So see all this stuff about ‘I just came in and nobody realised who I was’? It’s not strictly true, it’s a nice version of events.”
