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Joe Cole says he had a manager at Chelsea who was smarter than Jose Mourinho

Charles Jones

Tue 18 March 2025 13:15, UK

Joe Cole worked with some remarkable managers throughout his career.

The midfielder was lucky enough to work under some all-time greats, from Claudio R🥀anieri to Fabio𒈔 Capello.

Of course, Cole famously also worked under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.

Mourinho is a legend of a manager, and Cole tasted a lot of s🌠uccess under the Portuguese gaffe🧸r, winning two Premier League titles.

H🎐owever, speaking on Tales, Tears and Trophies, the England international has claimed that he had a manager at Chelsea who was ev🦹en smarter than Mourinho.

• READ MORE: Ian Wright says £25m Chels🦩ea ♏player is making all of his teammates scared at the moment

Carlo Ancelotti was smarter than Jose Mourinho

Cole has always been a fan of Mourinho, but he admitted that Carlo Ancelotti was the smartest manager ꦰhe worked with at Chelsea.

Cole says Ancelotti was smart enough to recognise that only a few cha🐼nges were nee✨ded at Chelsea, and, ultimately, that led to the Italian winning a league title.

“The smart managers, and I’m talking Carlo Ancelotti was the smartest manag🧔er. He walked into the dressing room. We hadn’t won the league for three years,” Cole said.

“Remember, you guys (Manchester United) went bang, bang, bang three years in a row. We’re thinking, mate, we had꧙ managers try to change us from what we was. Carlo come in,

“He went, what d🍌id you do before? What was Jose doing? Like, this is the training met🔯hodology.

“The lads like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, well, ൲so we’ll do thꦏat then.

“And he only changed two or three things. Then that ye🍷ar was the year we won the league back. My last year, actually.”

Carlo Ancelotti compared to Jose Mourinho

Ancelotti and Mourinho are two incredible manag🏅ers, and, in terms of legacy, both managers are very comparable.

Ancelotti has been a legendary figure for a long time, but since his return to Real Madrid from Everton, his reputation 🅰has ꦑonly been enhanced further.

Both men have achi𒆙eved incredible things in the game, revolutionising the sport in their own way𒉰, and it’s hard to separate the pair.

Of course, you can also c💛ompare both manager’s records at Chelsea, and that also makes for interesting reading.

Mouri💦nho has the greater Chelsea legacy, but Ancelotti’s win percentage isn’t far off Mourinho’s at Stamford Bridge.

Regardl🔯ess of who you think is better, Ancelotti and Mourinho are undoubtedly two of the greatest managers in history.