Jose Mourinho as England manager – could you imagine that? 

This week the Special One claimed he was close to taking the national job seven years ago – but turned it down on the advice of his wife.

With his first stint at Stamford Bridge having ended in September 2007, the Portuguese was seeking a new challenge when the Three Lions were hunting a replacement for Steve McClaren, who failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

He said: “I was almost, almost, almost, almost England manager at that time.

“But it was the right decision. My wife was right. She told me not to take it.”

Jose has always said international football is not for him because he cannot wait two years for a big competition, but ironically it may well be he is just the man to manage a national side – especially England.

This is a coach who is an expert at making good players great, and great players outstanding.

The England manager cannot fix the long-standing problems we all know hurt our national side; all he can do is get the best out of what we have got.

Jose regularly provides a masterclass in how to handle the British media, which is half the battle won when you have so few games to play but so much more pressure on each of them.

But most importantly – and this is a key difference from previous managers Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello – Mourinho is a proven trophy winner in England.

He knows the English game better than almost any non-British manager in football apart from, arguably, Roberto Martinez at Everton.

So while we would hate to see Jose leave the Bridge, I can not think of anyone better to fill Roy Hodgson’s shoes when the time comes...

And I’ll resist suggesting that time will come very soon, say in one month?