Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has revealed how close he came to becoming England coach.
Only a last-minute U-turn after the intervention of wife Matilde prevented the Portuguese from taking over.
Asked how closed he was to taking the job Mourinho picked up a pen, held it just above a piece of paper and mimicked signing on the dotted line.
"This close," said Mourinho, speaking in his role as a Yahoo World Cup ambassador.
He added: "No, I don't regret not taking it, it was the right decision - my wife was right.
"I cannot wait two years for a big competition. I can't spend two years playing against Kazakhstan and San Marino. In the end, my wife was saying, 'No football, no matches - it's not for you'. And she was right.
"At that time I had no job and I had been at home for two or three months already after leaving Chelsea.
"I could not get an English club because of my contract when I left Chelsea - I could manage the national team but not a club. I had reasons to accept, and the main reasons were my people pushing me to take it.
"Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ashley Cole were saying, 'Come, come, come, everybody from other clubs wants you to do it'.
"The guys from Manchester United and Liverpool were saying to them, 'Tell your boss to come'.
"I had lots of positive things to push me, and that's why I was so close.
"But it was not the job for me seven years ago, it's not the job for me now and I don't think it will be the job for me in seven years - maybe in 15 years from now."
