A former Manchester United masseuse says Jose Mourinho used to call him a "fat c***" - but in a nice way.
Rod Thornley, who worked for the club for 19 years, spilled the beans about life under The Special One during a recent episode of the Under The Cost podcast.
The 'fat c***' jibe was started by Wayne Rooney, who was a close friend of Thornley's, and was gradually picked up by the rest of the squad, though the nickname truly kicked into life when Mourinho got wind of it.
"It was a running joke. Wazza, everyday would call me 'fat c***' and I just had to accept it. That's how it stuck in the dressing room," Thornley revealed.
"First they'd call me 'fatty', and I don't mind, water off a duck's back. Then [it changed to] 'gordo', which is Spanish for 'fat c***' basically. [Marcos] Rojo would come in and go 'gordo' like it's a loveable thing, like, I bet it is, cheers.
"But then when Jose came into the club and knew my relationship with all the players and he saw how close I was with Wayne and all of that, I'd be sat in the medical room and you'd just hear down this corridor (shouting) 'FAT C***', and it'd be Jose coming round the corner.
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"He'd come up and give me a handshake… that was the affection he had for me. Brilliant fun."
Thornley said the ex-Chelsea and Tottenham boss was "a prankster" and claimed he used to squirt whipped cream in the hands of players who fell asleep during flights to European matches. "That was Jose, he loved a prank."
On the footballing side of things, Thornley remembers thinking Mourinho would be the one to finally fill Sir Alex Ferguson's shoes, but admitted working for him became a challenge when the team was struggling.
"On his good days he was amazing to work for. He made me feel better than Sir Alex ever did, but on his bad days he was a f***ing nightmare. He knew how to upset a player and p*** staff off... towards the end he was hard work to work for.
"But at the start, the first two years he was brilliant. I loved working for him. He was fun, he involved me in everything. He would even get me involved in training."
Mourinho spent two-and-a-half years at Old Trafford and, prior to Erik ten Hag's Carabao Cup triumph in February, was the only United manager post-Ferguson to win silverware, having led his team to glory in the Carabao Cup, the Super Cup and the Europa League in 2017.
He was sacked in December 2018 following a poor start to the season, and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.