Steve Sidwell recalls the (hilarious) dinner at Mourinho’s house: ‘We saw the door open and went in…’ – Internacional

Steve Sidwell is 40 years old and has played for English clubs his entire career. In 2007 he was at the peak of his qualities and, accordingly, was the object of interest from Chelsea, led by Jose Mourinho. He played for Reading and didn’t even think twice when the coach invited him to dinner at the Portuguese’s house. But not everything went well…

“It’s still one of the best stories of my career. I finished training and Peter Kenyon, who was the chief executive of Chelsea, called me and said they wanted me. All my family and friends are from Chelsea. I was born in Wadsworth, I grew up in Tooting, so I felt confident and asked if he Mourinho can call me, so I went home and waited,” he began.

“The phone rang and I answered right away. It was him…we had a two minute conversation and he asked me if I had anything to do that night. I said no and he invited me to dinner at his house. He sent a car to my address and I went there with my wife and my agent,” he explained after that.

“When we got there, we went through the garden, along another dirt road and came to the entrance. Surprisingly, the door was open… We didn’t really know what to do but went in and sat in the living room. I don’t think we even thought about what we were doing.” His wife was cooking in the back, and the dogs were running from side to side and we were there like idiots…not knowing what to do. Until, all of a sudden, I saw some legs down the stairs…slippers, jeans…it was him…” , continued.

Mourinho came down and said – ‘But are you here yet?’ did you arrive Didn’t anyone accompany you? ” – he approached us and apologised. He was really at his peak. My wife with her mouth open looking at the Portuguese god, she didn’t even move. He showed me a notebook where he had all the plans for the future of the club and said he wanted to count on me. The rest is history,” Sidwill concluded without blushing. He fails to reiterate that he was not swayed by the money: “Contrary to what many people said at the time, they paid me more at Reading. I went to Chelsea to lose money, amazingly.”