Marco Silva exclusive: Fulham manager on building Craven Cottage legacy and damaging Liverpool's title hopes

It seems a long time ago Marco Silva was billed as the next Jose Mourinho. Perhaps it feels like it for the straight-talking Portuguese too.

Perhaps it feels even longer now he is managing a fourth top-flight club since his first, Hull in 2017. And that is without mentioning an 18-month spell out of the game.

In each of those, at Hull, Watford and Everton, he left a lingering feeling that something remained untapped. That once he found the right club, and they found the right Marco, he would build some kind of lasting legacy.

Up to that point he had spent more than 18 months at only one club - his first, Estoril. In three years, he took them from the Portuguese second tier to the Europa League.

In February, his spell at Fulham finally eclipsed that spell as his longest in any one job.

He has already ticked off promotion at Craven Cottage. A repeat run to Europe probably remains elusive, but that long-awaited legacy is being built on the banks of the Thames.

It's a word Silva himself has used to express what he wants to achieve in west London. A longevity he has waited almost a decade to realise.

"It gives you real satisfaction and pride," he tells Sky Sports from the club's Motspur Park base. "When I first joined the club, the mood was really down after a really tough season where the club had only won five games.

"You can imagine how it starts. The coaches, the staff, the players - that was the moment everyone needed a lift. The best way to do it was by winning games and with the style of football. Now everyone is enjoying what we are doing - the players, the fans and ourselves.

"[That longevity] has not been at some clubs because at some moments, you and they have to take decisions. Some clubs want you to stay, some don't. The