Joe Cole admits he relished Jose Mourinho’s media tirades at Chelsea during Premier League winning spell – ‘He used to dig me out’

Cole, alongside Joleon Lescott, Owen Hargreaves, Ally McCoist and Darren Fletcher, spoke about dressing room dynamics and the positive and negative sides of being part of a group of elite footballers, touching on the increased awareness of mental health in football too.

The former Chelsea midfielder has recently released a book entitled ‘Joe Cole, Luxury Player’ that brings a candid eye into the dressing rooms in which he spent time as a player.

Whilst he perceived Mourinho to be outspoken and spiky, Cole appreciated the Portuguese manager’s honesty towards him.

“It was the time, the culture of the time. I think sometimes in football, in the heat of battle, you need to be direct, and sometimes at the cost of somebody’s feelings,” he explained.

“When writing the book, everyone was fascinated because he used to dig me out, and he used to dig me out in the media. I was okay with it. I liked the directness. I was in a mindset where there was nothing that was going to stop me playing for this Chelsea team.”

Jose Mourinho manager of Chelsea celebrates the Premier League title after the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on May 24, 2015 in London, England

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Mourinho managed the Blues from 2004 until 2007, with Cole becoming a key player for the club in that period after joining from West Ham in 2003.

The Portuguese coach often clashed with his players and was not afraid to criticise them both in the dressing and in the media, as Cole attested to.

Mourinho was eventually sacked by Chelsea in 2007 after a poor start to the campaign and Cole remained at the club and soon experienced the opposite of Mourinho’s style in Carlo Ancelotti.

“So, directness in high-level sport is okay, but in society in general, it’s better that we’re all being kind to each other,” Cole said.

“It’s brilliant that we are where we are now with the mental health side of things, but sometimes in football, you just need that directness.”

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McCoist, who played in an entirely different time, both in a football and societal sense, found great success playing under Graeme Souness and Walter Smith at Rangers.

“A happy and organised dressing room doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, but it doesn’t half help,” the Scot said on The Breakdown.

“The best dressing rooms police themselves. You’ve got a captain and a vice-captain, but you’ll have half a dozen lads that know the score, and when somebody needs a word, they’ll have a word.

“It’s different personalities as well, people handle things in different ways. I always remember talking to Sir Alex (Ferguson), and he would say, ‘Everybody tells you to treat everybody the same. But you don’t, and why should you? Everybody is not the same.’

“He’s so right. Some people need a kick up the backside and other people need a pat on the back. He said ‘One of the things you have to look at is who needs what?’ Because not everybody needs the same thing.”

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In his 15 years at Rangers, McCoist won 10 league titles, three of which came under Souness.

“I had the same thing with Graeme Souness. When Graeme came to the club, he was leaving me out of the team. He signed big Mark Hateley and Mo Johnston came. I knew he was testing me. If I failed, I was away, I was out the door.

“I look back now, and I have a completely different outlook from how I looked at it then, than how I do now. I know for a fact, not only was he making the right decision for the team, but he was making the right decision for me.”