LONDON (REUTERS) - Jose Mourinho said on Wednesday (Dec 19) his Manchester United career was a closed chapter following his sacking as manager a day earlier, but the Portuguese confirmed he would return to management.
United sacked Mourinho after suffering their worst start to a season for 28 years and replaced him with former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer until the end of the current Premier League campaign.
"Manchester United has a future without me and I have a future without United," Mourinho told Sky Sports.
"Why should I be sharing more now, even with the supporters, any of my feelings? It's over. That's the way I've always been.
"I've been critical of managers that leave clubs and speak about what's happened and who's to blame. That's not me. I just want to finish like it happened yesterday and I'd like to say it's game over. I hope you media respect this way for me to be.
"Until I get back to football I have my right to live my normal life. That's what I want to do. United is the past."
Mourinho, who replaced Dutchman Louis van Gaal in May 2016, won the Europa League and League Cup in his first season.
He then guided United to second place in the Premier League and the FA Cup final, where they were beaten by Chelsea, in his second.
Yet his third season was riddled with problems both on and off the pitch, including the breakdown of his relationship with record signing Paul Pogba, before United pulled the plug with the team sitting sixth in the league.
Mourinho's final game in charge was a 3-1 defeat at bitter rivals Liverpool on Sunday.
However, the former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss said he would retain positive memories of his time at Old Trafford and not focus on what went wrong.
"You know me. I don't change, what I did when I left Chelsea is the same as what I'm going to do now," the 55-year-old said.
"I keep the good things and I don't speak about anything that happened in the club. We could speak about so many good things, not as good, but that's not me. It's finished."
United's next game is at Cardiff City on Saturday, where Solskjaer was manager for nine months in 2014.
