He plays the bad guy, but nobody loves English football like Mourinho.

In April 2014, Jose Mourinho had a key Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid to prepare for. After a 0-0 draw in the away leg, his Chelsea team were slight favourites to make it through to his first Champions League final as the club’s manager.

Before that however, there was a Premier League match away at Anfield. It was virtually meaningless from a Chelsea point of view, with the club’s title hopes up in smoke. But anything other than a win for Mourinho’s side would near enough guarantee a first Liverpool title in 24 years.

Most managers would have ignored the game and focused 100% on Atletico, but not Mourinho. Even though it made no difference to how his performance as Chelsea manager would be measured, he prepared meticulously and ground out a heroic 2-0 win.

Why? Because he knew that was the commitment fans around the country wanted. He knew that was what the competition demanded and it was up to him to maintain its integrity.

Compare that with the site, in May, of hundreds of Granada fans invading the pitch on the final day of the Spanish season to get pictures with the Barcelona players after their side had just capitulated 3-0 to hand them the title. No wonder La Liga wasn’t for Mourinho.

When Leicester won the Premier League last season, he would have obviously much rather it was him winning the trophy, but he understood what it meant to the whole country and loved the very fact it was able to happen in England where it would be all but impossible in Spain, Italy and Germany.

“This is the only country where everybody wants this to happen, and it’s the only country where the football structures allow this to happen. In other countries, the powerful clubs don’t want this to happen – they don’t want to share the money, the television rights,” he said.

“In this country, everyone wants a league and this allows an amazing story like the Leicester one.”

Mourinho isn’t a football fan in the way that Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone, who would undoubtedly be bouncing around every week on the terraces of Buenos Aires if he hadn’t made it as a pro, is. But he cares just as much about delivering for the fans as the exuberant Argentine.

All managers give more than their fair share of token praise for their team’s supporters, but how many really mean it?

There are bosses like Pep Guardiola who would probably be happy enough to see the fans sit in silence rather than distract his team from the job in hand. Then there’s Simeone and Antonio Conte, who spend almost as much time gesturing at the fans to ensure they are in full voice, win, lose or draw, as they do encouraging their players.

But few managers are ever as genuinely touched by the support from the fans, or lack of it, as Mourinho.

After Man United’s 1-0 League Cup derby win over Man City, he referred back to his side’s hammering at Chelsea in the previous game, saying: “I never had people [fans] like these ones. We lost 4-0 and they [the team] were supported.

“Today the stadium was full and not full of people, real supporters and it looks like the love that people have for the club is bigger than three bad seasons so we must give something back.

“Easy to be a Man Utd fan when you win the treble. It’s not easy when you lose 4-0 and this is incredible.”

Nobody loves a bit of propaganda more than Mourinho, but in this emotional interview you could tell he meant every word. Just like he meant it when he said in 2014 that it was hard for him at Stamford Bridge because he loved the club yet the atmosphere was like an empty stadium.

He’s a born competitor in a country where the fans demand, above everything, that their teams are competitive.

We no longer have crunching tackles from the likes of Stuart Pearce and Vinnie Jones, or even a national team capable of keeping its dignity. All we have today is Jose Mourinho, a man from Portugal who embodies the spirit of English football like nobody else.