Jose Mourinho hotel: Inside the exclusive Lowry where axed Man Utd manager lived for 895 days and spent £779,000 on rent

Jose Mourinho’s sacking as Manchester United boss is set to bring an end to his 895-day residence at the Lowry Hotel – where he was likened to Alan Partridge for his transient lifestyle.

Steve Coogan’s parody TV character was famously isolated at the Linton Travel Tavern and became so bored he dismantled his trouser press to kill time.

The Portuguese manager may have had a little less time on his hands – but spent 895 days living at The Lowry in Manchester city centre after taking the United job in summer 2016.

His wife and family remained in their rented £25m London home in Belgravia as daughter Matilde studied at London’s University of Arts and son Jose Jr played for Fulham until April last year. He said his children were at an age where “they can’t chase me like they did before”.

Mourinho was regularly snapped being greeted by doormen as he went to and from the five-star hotel during his nomadic stay.

He also famously referenced his temporary residence when complaining traffic in Manchester city centre had made a police escort taking his team to Old Trafford late ahead of a Champions League game at the stadium.

The hotel is popular choice with A-listers visiting Manchester. Rita Ora, Robbie Williams and Justin Bieber have all checked in.

It’s also a popular filming location for the cast of The Real Housewives of Cheshire and was the place Wayne Rooney was caught romping with escorts in 2010.

Rebuffing remarks about his unusual setup, Mourinho, 55, previously retorted: “If the fans want me to be comfortable, that’s the way I feel comfortable [in a hotel].

“I’m very lazy, I like to arrive in the hotel and I don’t want anyone to worry, because I’m not living in a two square-metre room.”

Far from it, in fact. His suite, called The Riverside, costs roughly £870 per night, and bears few resemblances to Alan Partridge’s uninspiring Linton Travel Tavern.

Mourinho’s stay cost him around £779,000 in rent alone – spending over three times the average UK house price of £240,000.

A source close told Sun Online earlier this month: “There are issues between Mourinho and the squad at the moment but it has nothing to do with where he’s living.

“He’s happy at The Lowry – not so happy to be away from his family, though. But he’s comfortable with his living arrangements.”

We took a peak behind the closed doors of the hotel to see what it’s really like.

A hotel fit for “big shot business types”

Mourinho was right when he says it’s an apartment within a hotel – the suite is usually rented to hold entire families and big gatherings, or, as the hotel describes it: “For big shot business types who dream big.”

In it, Mourinho had a living-room area big enough to host dinner parties or meetings, and two satellite TVs on the wall if he wishes to relax in the evenings.

There’s also a kitchenette with a kettle, a fridge and a mini-bar for entertaining guests. He slept in king-size bed, and also had a huge en-suite shower.

The 2AA rosette restaurant at the Lowry is considered one of the city’s best, with a steak costing £32 and there’s plenty of opportunity  to unwind at the recently renovated spa.

Hotel sleepovers for the players

Mourinho’s entire Man United squad even stayed in suites at his hotel on the evenings before home games, so they could relax without disturbance.

He even held meetings with the team there, with hotel staff recently revealing that a 20-minute meeting between Mourinho and his players had lasted over double that, and they could hear the unimpressed manager’s raise voice through the walls.

But they’re not the only famous faces to be roaming the hotel corridors.

Lady Gaga once tweeted pictures inside the suite while she got a new tattoo inked on her armpit, as well as Robbie Williams, who bragged at his Manchester concert at the time that the shower in his room was so big he might hold a party in it.

U2 legend Bono also favours the joint, and the city’s Stone Roses and even boxing legend Muhammad Ali have stayed there.

Privacy… and no chance of a break in

At his Belgravia family home in London, Mourinho employs a maid and a security guard to look after and protect his family.

But, due to his wealth and status, his home has still been targeted by burglars. In 2016, the family maid alerted a guard to an intruder who broke into the town house basement whilst she was doing the family’s ironing.

Mourinho and his wife were home at the time, and the intruder was caught and jailed for four weeks.

But The Lowry only is it manned by concierge and security guards 24/7, the hotel has bolstered security when requested by the club.

In 2015, when previous manager Louis Van Gaal was in charge, security was bought in to scan rooms for bugging devices ahead of a United team dinner.

Last year, they even bought in sniffer dogs for added protection, when United stayed at the hotel before their clash with Mourinho’s former club, Chelsea.