I once asked Jose Mourinho why there were so few English managers in the Premier League. ‘It is my fault,’ he said eyes twinkling. ‘Managers like myself, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, we are too successful.’
When I suggested his compatriot Marco Silva, then doing an excellent job at Watford, might be the next one, Jose gave me his trademark scoffing look, making it clear the young man had plenty to do before being mentioned in such exalted company.
And that remains the problem for Silva in his mid-forties.
He’s part of a generation that worships Mourinho for giving a small country like Portugal a respected global profile.