Jose Mourinho makes Matt Doherty feel like the special one

Doherty was ‘pleasantly surprised’ by Mourinho’s sense of humour, saying real Jose bears little relation to his popular perception

Matt Doherty has been pleasantly surprised by Jose Mourinho’s sense of humour

Forget everything you think you know about Jose Mourinho — the reality is different from his public persona, Matt Doherty will testify.

Mourinho signed the 28-year-old Dubliner for Tottenham from Wolves this summer, and even before putting pen to paper, Doherty discovered that the real Jose bears little relation to his popular perception as a scowling, anti-football, scourge of referees and slackers.

Instead Mourinho is a man of warmth and good humour, according to Doherty, who says it was the coach's personal touches that ensured he signed for Spurs in August after ten years at Molineux.

Like most of us, Doherty thought he knew what Mourinho was all about. But once it was clear the right-back was interested in a move to Tottenham, Mourinho showed his true colours.

“From the outside you see him in interviews, see him in the media on the sidelines, but you don't know him and you don't realise the sense of humour he has, the kind of bond that he has with players, so I was pleasantly surprised,” says Doherty.

He tells a story of the personal touches Mourinho showed even before they met to conclude a deal.

Before I had even signed I had a little bit of contact with him, and his sense of humour was very good, he can have a joke with you, and he made me feel incredibly welcome as I was signing.” 

Explaining that Mourinho did not need to 'sell' Tottenham to him, Doherty revealed how the personal touch helped ease his mind that he was making the right move.

“Once I knew there was interest from them, it was pretty straightforward that I wanted to come and play for Tottenham.

“But when we were talking (on the phone) he would send me a video of the changing room saying 'the changing room is waiting for you' and stuff like that. He sent me a picture of the Spurs top, just nice little things like that which he didn't have to do. He really made me feel welcome.

“The club have been absolutely exceptional since I've been around, not just Jose but the general staff, people trying to help me settle in, find places to live and so on. They've really gone above and beyond, so it's made the experience really good.” 

But most importantly Doherty has settled in quickly on the pitch, where he has replaced the error-prone Serge Aurier and given Spurs added dynamism and solidity on the right flank, whether as a wing-back or full-back in a flat back four.

Having excelled in both positions for club and country, Doherty welcomes the ability to improve under Mourinho, whose track record as an elite coach is hard to beat.

“Obviously the stuff that goes on the training pitches is exceptional so it's just been great for me to be able to learn from him and find out what he thinks I need to do to improve my game and to play under him, so it's just been a pleasure.” 

As well as improving his game under a proven winner, Doherty can benefit from the raised profile of playing for Tottenham, currently ranked the ninth richest club in world football and Champions League finallists only 16 months ago.

He is aware that he needs to be constantly raising his game as he fights with Seamus Coleman for a place in the national team, but is relaxed about the situation, pointing out: 

“On the international front, I played the last few games. It is always going to be a constant battle between me and Seamus and that's fine. Whoever plays, we have the full support of each other.

“We'd obviously both like to play, and we feel like we can play in some way together but that's not really up to us, it's up to the manager. I don't think being at a bigger club than Wolves will necessarily guarantee me playing (for Ireland). 

“Seamus is the captain at the end of the day, and we all know the credentials that he has, and all know how good and consistent he's been in the Premier League and for Ireland over the last eight or nine years so.

And it's probably 50/50 who plays. I know he's in pretty good form at the moment so I have to up my game over the next couple of days!”

Doherty was rested for Tottenham's Carabao Cup win over Chelsea on Tuesday night, but will return to face Israel's Maccabi Haifa on Thursday. A win for Spurs takes them into the group stages of the Europa League, a competition in which he reached the quarter-finals with Wolves before losing to eventual winners Seville. 

Doherty believes Spurs have enough to go all the way, especially under Mourinho, who has won the trophy twice before, with Porto and Manchester United.

“Seville are obviously a very, very good team and on that day we (Wolves) didn't have it in the legs. But I think if we get to the group stage, even when teams fall out from the Champions League, however big they are, I think we're good enough to progress all the way in this tournament for sure. 

“If you look at the squad now it's quite exciting and we will be hard to stop.”