Jose Mourinho aimed brutal 'kit man' jibe at Chelsea star during furious X-rated dressing room rant

Jose Mourinho once aimed a brutal jibe at one of his Chelsea players during a furious dressing room rant.

Mourinho is currently on the hunt for a new job, having been sacked by Roma and replaced by club legend Daniele De Rossi earlier this week.

The Portuguese boss had led the Serie A side to the Europa Conference League title in his first season in charge, before reaching the Europa League final the subsequent year.

But the club made a decision to make a change, with Mourinho’s contract set to expire in the summer, Roma in ninth in Serie A and the club's recent elimination from the Coppa Italia.

Mourinho has long been an enigmatic and divisive figure. However, his methods have brought great success, especially during the first half of his managerial career.

Never one to shy away from a confrontation, Joe Cole once recalled how Mourinho threatened to play the kit man ahead of Ricardo Carvalho during his first spell at Chelsea.

The Portuguese centre-half was a consistent performer for Chelsea but after an error-strewn display, he faced Mourinho’s wrath.

Cole told The Obi One Podcast: "It was a belter when he dug out Riccy Carvalho.

“Riccy's his boy, he took him everywhere and loved him, but I don't know why (he went for him). There was sometimes no rhyme or reason for it (his dressing downs). He never played badly for more than two games, and hardly ever made a mistake.

"He's gone to Riccy 'You're f***ing s***. I'm not going to play you. I'm going to play JT then Gallas. Then I'm going to play Robert Huth then I'm going to play the youth kid Steve Watt.

“If I don't play him, I'm going to play the kit man, I'm not going to play you'. And I get the giggles when there's things like that."

Cole himself wasn't immune to his manager's fury.

"I loved Jose but people always think we had a bad relationship," he said. "I played a league game and we won 3-0 at home. I set two goals up and thought I played well, but probably took a few little flicks around.

"I've gone through one-on-one with the keeper late on and should've slotted it in but instead I gave it to Crespo, but he's not run anywhere near it and the defenders got it. I thought nothing of it, but we were doing the warm down the next day and Mourinho came over and he said, 'See you do that s*** again boy you'll never f***ing play for me again' and I was like, 'What?'".

Topics: Football, Jose Mourinho, Premier League, Chelsea

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.