Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has the first time said he would  have been the "proudest man in the world" had he accepted the chance to become England manager.

 Mourinho was speacking ahead of Today's Champions League clash against Chelsea at San Siro.

I could have been England manager," he was quoted in mirrorfootball.com

 "I was, at that time, maybe the proudest manager in the world because, especially for a foreign coach, to have the possibility of leading a country like England, I was the proudest man in the world.

"I thought and thought and thought and and I was fighting with myself because one side wanted and the other side knew it was not the job for me, for my mentality, for my passion of football, for training every day."

But Mourinho congratulated England for choosing Capello and described him as is the right man for the job.

"It was not the job for me and I decided it was not to be," he said.

"It was a good decision, England chose a very good experienced manager who is doing a great job.

"And, because I love England, I hope he keeps doing very, very well and keeps having the dream and, why not, the reality of making something very, very important for your country.

"So I think it was a great decision to have a very good coach and I hope everything goes well."

Mourinho excluded himself from the list when he said he can not change his citizenship to go England.

"After deep and serious thinking I decided to exclude myself from being England manager despite it being a fantastic position for me," Mourinho said in a statement published on the Web site of Gestifute (www.gestifute.com), his Portuguese agents.