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Who Jose Mourinho once named as the worst manager in the history of the Premier League

Lucas Arnold

Mon 17 March 2025 15:15, UK

Jose Mourinho was certainly not shy of a controversial comment when he was managing any of Chelsea, Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.

The ‘special one’ was often also the one who was willing to shoot from the hip – Mourinho certainly wasn’t afraid of verbal confrontation.

During his time in charge at Chelsea, a period which is still recognised as the most decorated of his career, Mourinho often dueled with Arsene Wenger on the touchline,🎀 just to give one example.

Mourinho was an excellent ch✨aracter for the Premier League, and one that will be missed by the football world wh🍃en he one day retires.

That being said, the Portuguese manager has already named who he considers to be the worst Premier League manager of al▨l time, sharing a heated back and forth with Frank de Boer in𒆙 2018.

Jose Mourinho wasn’t impressed by Frank de Boer at Crystal Palace

O🌜n the pitch, De Boer will always be remembered as a legend for the Netherlands, a player who starre♍d for both Ajax and Barcelona at club level too.

However, as a manager of Crystal Palace, De Boer manifested a slightly iღnferior rꦯeputation, at least in the eyes of Mourinho.

READ MORE: What Jose Mourinho ‘laughed’ ab💙out immediately after Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta in 2019

Speaking in his press conference back in 2018, Mourinho hailed De Boer as the ‘worst manager ♎in the history of the Premier League’ – he didn’t mince his words. 

Mourinho took aim at De Boer after the Dutchman claimed t𒁏hat he wasn’t the right man to help Marcus Rashford at Manchester United, who he was in c🐻harge of at the time.

Replying to those comments, Mourinho said: “I read something, some q🐼uote from the worst manager in th🍌e history of the Premier League – Frank de Boer.

“What he was saying was not good for Marcus Rashford to haveꦛ a coach like me, because the most important thing for mౠe is to win.

“If he was coached by Frܫank he would lose because he lost every g꧋ame.”

Frank de Boer’s terrible record at Crystal Palace

Mourinho named 🌳the ‘most problematic’ player he worked with in his career too,🥃 a🌊nd perhaps some Palace players will remember De Boer in a similar way themselves.

The Dutchman only l𝕴asted five games in charge at Selhurst Park♔, losing all four of his matches in the Premier League without scoring a goal.

Palace managed to win against Ipswich Town in the Carabao Cup in the midst of those defeats, but it wasn’t enough to save his🌺 🥂job.

De Boer’sꦕ team were beaten by Huddersfield Town, Liverpool, Swansea City and Burnley all without scoring🎃 a goal.

And th🦩at probably explains wh🐓y the Dutchman would be better advised to steer clear of Mourinho in the future.