Jose Mourinho exposed Rangers tongue slip with masterful putdown - 22 years after Celtic dig

Clement had many critics as a coach. His greatest tactical miscalculation, perhaps, was thinking that making slightly scornful comments about the style of football Mourinho’s teams play was not going to come back to haunt him.

“He’s going to give you a lot of material,” Clement had grinned with reference to Mourinho just under a fortnight ago in what proved to be his final pre-match press conference as Rangers manager. He was anticipating some theatre. “I like that too,” he added.

Boy, did Mourinho provide it on the banks of the Bosphorus on Wednesday as he looked ahead to the next day's Europa League last 16 clash between his current side Fenerbahce and Rangers, Clement’s now former club. The term ‘current side’ is used advisedly in the case of Mourinho since he almost broke the internet with a flirty answer to a question about possibly one day managing in Glasgow.

It’s not completely unrealistic. Mourinho clearly retains much affection for the country. “Part of my formation was in Scotland,” he noted, while half-apologising to the landlords of Largs pubs for their failure to cash in on his time studying for coaching certificates at the National Sports Centre in the late 1980s. “For the Largs pubs it was a disaster, because I was only drinking sparkling water with lemon,” he smiled.

Mourinho didn’t stand out to staff and colleagues on this initial stay (he returned in 2000 to complete his qualification, as Euro 2000 was reaching its conclusion in Belgium and Holland). One of his assessors was Gordon Strachan. “You are put in groups of 12 on those courses,” Strachan told Patrick Barclay for the latter’s book: Mourinho – Anatomy Of A Winner. “You don’t really mix with people from other groups unless you stroll down to the pub for a chat in the evening. Maybe Jose did not go to the pub.”

When he returned to complete his B certificate, he’d already worked alongside Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal at Porto and Barcelona and had started to make a name for himself. Tosh McKinlay was a fellow student. “As soon as he walked onto that training pitch, you knew he was different from the rest of us,” said the former defender, who was in the twilight of his career at the time with Kilmarnock. “It was how organised he was, and the way he put things across.”

The next time McKinlay saw him was at Ibrox. By now a manager in his own right at Porto, Mourinho was attending an Old Firm fixture ahead of the 2003 Uefa Cup final against Celtic. At his press conference on Wednesday, he confirmed that he still has Rangers fans coming up to him to thank him for that result, with Porto eventually coming out on top after extra-time. “It’s true, maybe in London or in the south of Portugal in summer time, it's true. Some Rangers fans come up to me.”

He emphasised what a big win that first European trophy was for him personally. It also provided a glimpse of the tactics Clement might have been referring to when he observed, probably a little unwisely, that there are different managers with different styles, and he happens to prefer those who win trophies in “another style” to Mourinho. Clement would have found a willing ally in Martin O’Neill on that sweltering night in Seville. The Celtic manager railed against Porto’s sportsmanship and playacting.

Indeed, O’Neill once said he could never forgive Mourinho, who had given Scottish reporters an early taste of his aptitude for subtle – or not so subtle – digs. Complaining about the state of the pitch in Seville, he stressed that it might give Celtic “an advantage in that playing the ball in the air is one of their strong points”. To be fair to the Portuguese, Celtic’s two goals in the 3-2 defeat did come from headers.

Such verbal sport is why Mourinho’s press conference to preview the Fenerbahce-Rangers first leg was so eagerly awaited. It has been keenly anticipated ever since the teams were drawn against each other a couple of Fridays ago. Clement’s comments came shortly afterwards in a press conference ostensibly designed to discuss Rangers’ clash against St Mirren the following day.

Indeed, at one point Clement wondered why no one was asking him about St Mirren. “Let’s not disrespect them,” he pointed out - and he was right to do so. The Paisley side’s 2-0 win spelt the end for Clement – or "what's his name?" as he was referred to by Mourinho.

One Scottish reporter over in Turkey unsurprisingly brought up what Clement had said. The question had barely left his mouth before Mourinho stopped him: “You think I am going to comment on ….what’s his name?” The Portuguese then proceeded to body Clement anyway.

Having been invited to ask an alternative question, the journalist adeptly changed tact to focus on Barry Ferguson, Clement’s replacement. “I know his history as a football player for Scotland, for Rangers,” answered Mourinho. “I do not know much about his career as a coach but I respect a lot the emotional connection between him as a coach and his club – I think that is an important thing at a football club.

"I think it will be much more difficult with him than the previous coach because the previous coach was more worried about philosophy than on the pitch,” he continued. “It is on the pitch where you win matches, it is not with philosophy. For sure, Ferguson will be much more pragmatic, much more objective. It will be harder for us, but it will also be hard for them.”

Ouch. As the saying goes, if you come for the chief, make sure you don’t lose to St Mirren 24 hours later.