Scolari – Don´t say I´m like Mourinho

Luiz Felipe Scolari has vowed to make Chelsea more popular by avoiding the kind of controversy that Jose Mourinho courted during his reign at Stamford Bridge.

Scolari has only been in charge at Stamford Bridge since July and his forceful personality have already earned comparisons with Mourinho, who led Chelsea to two league titles.

But the Brazilian is adamant he wants Chelsea to be loved so he won't follow Mourinho's penchant for making explosive comments about other teams and officials.

“I am not Jose Mourinho, so why compare me with him? Mourinho says 'I will win 10 championships' but I am more modest than that,” Scolari said.

“I am from south Brazil and in my culture we never say 'I will win this or that'. I just say that I will try my best to win all the competitions. But Mourinho is Mourinho, he has a different culture to me.

“I want to make Chelsea loved around the world, like Barcelona and Manchester United. It's a surprise for me that people say Chelsea are unpopular, because when we went to China, they love Chelsea.

“There were many people there. It's a big surprise people don't like us in England. Here in Russia, in Malaysia, it's even better, but maybe not yet in Brazil or South America.

“Chelsea is a club that is a growing name. Before, it was Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Milan.

“If we win one or two big competitions, I'm sure we'll have fans all over the world. Maybe it won't be the same as Madrid, Manchester or Milan because our history is not the same and you don't make a history in two, three or ten years. Maybe in 20 or 50 years, Chelsea will be on that level.”

While Mourinho spent millions on building Chelsea into one of Europe's top clubs, Scolari is keen to implement the club's new policy of bringing through more players from the youth academy.

Scolari has signed only Portugal midfielder Deco since taking charge and, although he has been linked with a bid for Real Madrid's Robinho, he insists there is no need to spend big money on such a strong squad.

“Since I came to Chelsea we have only spent eight million pounds on Deco. Jose Bosingwa came in before I arrived,” he said.

“Maybe in the past they have spent more money, but now they don't need to spend as much because they already have a solid base. Now they need a coach to develop young players and I think I am that coach.

“The new philosophy at Chelsea is to bring some young boys through the system.”