Mourinho urges the FA to get in touch over England job

Jose Mourinho, who was sacked as Chelsea coach in September, last night encouraged the Football Association to make contact with him over the vacant England's manager's job saying: "tell the FA to come and get me".

"You will have to speak to the FA to see if they are interested in offering me the job," Mourinho told The Sun. "I cannot say what I think until they say they are interested. Tell the FA to come and get me. We will have to wait and see, but I rule nothing out."

Mourinho would be a popular choice to replace Steve McClaren at England because of his impressive record with Chelsea and Porto. He won two Portuguese championships, the Uefa Cup and the Champions League with Porto, before leaving to win two Premier League titles, two League Cups and the FA Cup with Chelsea.

The 44-year-old had been tipped to stay in club management in Europe, having previously suggested that he would only be interested in coaching his native Portugal at international level. The FA chief executive, Brian Barwick, has said that nationality "would not be an issue" when it came to appointing the next England coach.

Several candidates have already ruled themselves out of contention for the position including Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill, West Ham's Alan Curbishley and Newcastle's Sam Allardyce.