Mansion Sports – Jose Mourinho has once again taken a characteristic swipe at the slow legal proceedings involving Manchester City.

The Real Madrid manager even suggested that he might no longer be around when the final verdict is eventually announced.

Alongside addressing the case involving the Manchester club, Mourinho also reflected on his return to Santiago Bernabeu and the various refereeing controversies that have overshadowed his career.

Mourinho Highlights the Slow Pace of Manchester City's Legal Proceedings

Manchester City are facing an unprecedented crisis after an independent commission found the club guilty of 114 out of 115 alleged financial breaches.

The Premier League charges, covering the period from the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons, centered on the artificial inflation of sponsorship revenue and failures to provide accurate financial records.

Although City have firmly maintained their claim of innocence and officially filed an appeal, the club still faces the threat of severe sanctions.

"I would rather laugh a little, because I think this case will eventually come to an end. However, both of us, being in our sixties, will have to be lucky to still be around when the final verdict is delivered. Because now the verdict will come out, and then there will be an appeal..." Mourinho told Corriere dello Sport.

His comments highlight the growing frustration within the football world over the time it takes to resolve major disciplinary cases involving elite clubs.

Reflecting on the Negreira Scandal

In the interview, Mourinho also revisited the Negreira case, which began with Barcelona's payments totaling more than €7.3 million between 2001 and 2018 to former referees' committee vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

Mourinho linked the case to his first spell in charge of Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013.

Although Barcelona have stated that the payments were intended for legitimate technical reports, Real Madrid also joined the legal proceedings as an affected party, further deepening the institutional crisis in Spanish football.

"I arrived and experienced the crucial years of the Negreira case here at Real Madrid. Nobody knew about it, but we lived through it," Mourinho said.

He then elaborated on his experience dealing with controversial refereeing structures, pointing to similar patterns elsewhere.

"Then I left, and now the case is becoming public knowledge. But in Turkey, the major scandal... after that, situations like this have happened to me quite often," he added, referring to the head of refereeing in Turkey, who was eventually imprisoned.

Returning to Santiago Bernabeu

The Portuguese manager also discussed the unusual circumstances surrounding his return to the Spanish capital this summer.

He returned to take charge of Real Madrid after the club went through the previous season without winning a trophy.

Mourinho has fond memories of his first spell at Santiago Bernabeu, when he won the La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Supercopa de España titles.

"Usually, contact is made first, and then the rumors start circulating. Here, however, it happened the other way around: the rumors started emerging when there had been absolutely no contact," he explained.

Mourinho revealed that he was still feeling comfortable at Benfica when speculation about his return began to intensify.

The situation eventually brought him back emotionally to the club he had managed for three years.

He also mentioned that his relationship with club president Florentino Perez remained strong despite having been away from Real Madrid for a decade.

The Changing Role of Managers

In his final reflections on modern football, Mourinho expressed regret over the changing landscape of football management.

He observed that the era of managers building long-term careers at a single club is gradually fading, replaced by faster and more unpredictable cycles of managerial changes.

He compared the current situation with his early days, when he attended UEFA meetings alongside legendary figures such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.

"Nowadays, a manager's career is much shorter; they arrive quickly and leave just as quickly. There are no longer many managers who build long careers like that," he said.

Despite the changes in the football industry and the growing number of support staff working behind the scenes, Mourinho insisted that his fundamental approach remains the same.

He ended his remarks by emphasizing that although football continues to evolve, his professional identity will not change.

"DNA does not change. Many things can change, but DNA does not change."