Jose Mourinho’s Jibes From Six Years Ago Haunt First Real Madrid Defeat

A player Mourinho publicly called out while Tottenham Hotspur manager delivered a stinging riposte on the pitch on Friday.

José Mourinho suffered his first Real Madrid defeat of the season on Friday night. | Fran Santiago/Getty Images

Troy Parrott, the striker José Mourinho publicly scolded while they were at Tottenham Hotspur together, memorably brandishing the fan favorite ‘The Privileged One,’ just had to be the one who scored the goal that consigned ‘The Special One’ to the first Real Madrid defeat of his second spell.

Mourinho’s sharp tongue is legendary. “I think sometimes I can be very aggressive with my vocabulary,” the revered communicator admitted in his recent documentary. There was recognition but no recompense. Press conferences are “a place where I usually win,” he shrugged.

However, a career as incendiary as Mourinho’s which has stretched beyond two decades is always going to include a few comments that even the Portuguese provocateur may come to regret.

Parrott had to wait more than six years to offer his own riposte on the pitch, but the “privileged” son did eventually return.

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Mourinho’s ‘Educational Process’ With Parrott

Troy Parrott scored Real Betis’ winner against Real Madrid. | Diego Souto/Getty Images

Back in March 2020, Mourinho didn’t have a single senior striker fit for Tottenham, but he did have one kid lighting it up for the U-23s. Parrott had sparked such a fervor among the Spurs fanbase that supporters had taken to chanting for the then-21-year-old who had just five minutes of Premier League experience to his name.

“This is a world where lots of people, they don’t even know if Troy has long hair or short hair. Or is blonde or is dark,” Mourinho scoffed. “They don’t even know that and speak about: Troy, Troy, Troy, Troy, he should play. There was a guy behind me on the bench the other day: ‘Play Troy, play Troy.’ I don’t think he knows Troy.”

Mourinho’s reluctance to play Parrott stemmed from his attitude rather than his ability.

“Every time he was playing with the kids, he was playing with the mentality of, ‘I shouldn’t be here’ or ‘I am too good to be here’ or ‘It’s not here that I want to play,’” the former Spurs coach claimed. “And this is an educational process that comes. I have no problem to say because I know that he will confirm.”

“Troy cannot go there [the under‑age teams] with discontent, contempt. It is a process,” Mourinho added.

José Mourinho (left) handed Troy Parrott his Premier League debut. | Ian KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images

The Portuguese boss saw enough in the striker’s attitude to bring him on against Norwich City in the FA Cup that month but Parrott had his penalty saved in a humiliating shootout defeat. He would never make another senior appearance for Mourinho.

The Republic of Ireland international was loaned out to Millwall a few months after his public dressing down and accepted the criticism. “To be fair, he’s such an experienced manager and he's done nearly everything in the game, so if he feels like that’s right then there must be some truth in it and I had to take it on the chin,” Parrott explained.

“I was speaking to coaching staff and players finding out what I needed to do to be better. Because, obviously, Mourinho has worked with some of the best strikers there’s ever been.”

Parrott would never make the cut at Tottenham, under Mourinho or any other manager, but impressed enough during two years in the Netherlands with AZ Alkmaar to earn an $18.6 million (£13.8 million, €16 million) move to Real Betis this summer. After two blanks to start the campaign, Parrott announced himself to his new home crowd with the only goal in Friday’s narrow victory over Mourinho’s Madrid.

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