Devils of Heath

As someone who has been a long standing advocate that Jose Mourinho was the only true heir in terms of personality to succeed Sir Alex, it pains me no end when I see this version of Mourinho that has descended since the start of our pre season. To be fair, I am not entirely surprised, for the genesis of this happening was there before the FA Cup final last season. United put together a couple of miserable performances before that final in the league, it was the sort for which Van Gaal would have got booed out of the place. Something wasn’t right, something just hasn’t been right. Mourinho’s reign started with promise, you could see how his personality and the cult of Zlatan were reviving the club in his first season. Last season, as hot and cold as it was – offered reasons to be optimistic, especially the start of the season, not to mention how Jose ‘mourinhoed’ all fellow top 6 managers between March and April. Mourinho was moulding the club and was getting moulded by the c...

Manchester United and Mourinho was always supposed to be a dance with the devil, instead it has turned out to be a deal with a crossroads demon, i.e, sacrifice your soul for a few moments of glory. The two seasons of Mourinho are a vast improvement on the 3 seasons of Moyes and LVG put together, but then it is hardly a credible yardstick. United’s true football heritage is what happened during the days of Sir Alex and Sir Matt – enthralling football, engaging youth and an era laden with trophies. The idea of Jose Mourinho as a Manchester United manager was simple – get the club back to winning trophies again, everything else was an afterthought. His struggles with talented players who have a soft mentality or his innate ability to stifle first and attack later – were all to be accommodated – as long as success was restored at the Theatre of Dreams. Circa 2016, a struggling club and a struggling manager were to enter into a mutually beneficial alliance – one which was des...