Ah! Big Phil is not above playing mind games. And he does come off as a hypocrite.
Just before the big game pitting the world’s richest clubs against each other, he reveals that Man City offered him the managerial job. But he turned it down because “at that time I was with Portugal and I said I needed time to think.”
Talk about rubbing salt on a wound.
Obviously that reason was not good enough to turn Chelsea down which he was negotiating with while Portugal prepared for the Euro. They must have come to him with a briefcase full of cash and a glossy brochure of South Kensington mansions. When Chelsea tactlessly leaked Scolari’s signing up in the midst of Portugal’s campaign it did not faze him one bit. Rather than an obvious distraction he stated that Portugal would have lost anyway. Nice.
Given his squad will be missing a number of key players for the match his dismissal of Robinho appears to be too glib.