Slav and Jose friendship growing

Slaven Bilic has been telling of the slow but growing friendship between himself and Jose Mourinho.

The Chelsea boss mentioned, during a generally prickly presser this morning, that whilst he din’t know Slav very well he believed they could become friends.

And the Irons boss has since been discussing the contact between the two over recent months explaining that Mourinho had texted him when he became boss of the club.

He said:  “I was back home in Split on Croatia, it was the day after I signed in the summer. I got a text, I thought it was a wind up at first. But then Demba Ba called me from Istanbul and he said the boss asked for my number so I was like ok.

“I was pleased of course, since then we have been exchanging texts. “It said good luck and that, I like him a lot. He sent me a few times his regard through the likes of Luka Modric when I was the international manager at Croatia when we had big game.

“We have only met once in a friendly tournament last year when I was with Besiktas. That was the first time I met him, we won 1-0 in a 45 minute game. He was very friendly.”