Skip to main content

Will the Real Jose Mourinho please stand up?



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 club at the same time – or so it seemed. The undercurrent of something negative was always there. For quite simply speaking, there was always going to be limits to how much the players and the board would tolerate Mourinho’s public criticism. Should we really be surprised that both Pogba and Woodward in a space of a week have retailed in open through different channels?

The Manager is the most important person at this football club, but it’s a privilege that needs to be earned. Mourinho – the Real Mourinho – was a past master at this. Arrogant, charming and above all a ruthless winner. He forged a team which was a band of brothers, loyal to his every command and in awe of his tactical revolutions. Jose was the agenda, the one everyone at the club had to follow. Getting under the skin of rivals, referees, the association – this was the Mourinho way of showing everyone at the club how far he would go for them. It was always short term but clubs never forget the good times under Jose (even if it went bad towards the end).

I miss that Mourinho, for I know under that man there would be no greater force in the Premier League than Manchester United. Under him, a world record signing would never struggle and rebel. Under him, an established player like Sanchez would hit the ground running. Under him, United would not be going into a season feeling like the underdog.

Mourinho and Manchester United can simply not afford to fail together. They have to find a way. It has been five seasons without a premier league title – that is criminal by Manchester United standards. Mourinho needs to find the magician in him. This United side, can today field 8 good outfield players in the starting 11 who are all his signings. In Jose’s world, those players used to be his invincibles, the ones who would pick themselves and drive the team on. Ed Woodward for all his failings has every right to question Jose when he complains about not having a backup centre forward to Lukaku during the FA cup final having sold Zlatan in March or when he wishes to recycle the transfers he has already made.  Mourinho shockingly believes that last season was his greatest achievement in football, he couldn’t be more wrong. His greatest achievement in football would be to overcome the difficult circumstances he has created for himself and deliver league title no 21 for United. Earn the right to be the leader of Manchester United, as we all know the real Jose Mourinho can be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's Make MUFC Pragmatic Again!

  Aspirational or Pragmatic, two simple words but with colossal repercussions when applied to the Great Manchester United Managerial Race. I have to admit like most United fans, I have long craved a proactive manager with a well-placed attacking philosophy. It’s why I am allured by the prospect of Ten Hag and dream of the possibility of Enrique. But one look at Ralf’s time in charge is enough to move the needle from aspirations of what Manchester United should be and the reality of Manchester United will continue to be. For this is a club that hired not just a club builder but one of the most proactive managers of all time and turned him into a pragmatist. Is it Ralf’s fault? No, Is it the club’s fault? Not entirely. Although the club have been lucky that this is a far more grey-haired Ralf, someone who has the maturity to adapt to the design of the squads. And that part right there is the quality that Manchester United should prioritize the most as they search for managerial c...
8 comments
Read more

Rock Bottom

  A United fan I know, is also a psychiatrist by profession (yup wh at a tr uly relevant field f ull of case studies!). During our in-game zoom calls with other fans (some of whom are good friends now, yup misery and joy both act as great unifiers), he said something really relevant…this was rock bottom. It’s a way to make people look on the bright side after bitter disappointment. But, such is the tribal nature of football, all it needs is for one of your rivals to hit rock bottom…for you to temporarily escape your own emotional hellhole! Everything that has followed this football club since that fateful  day at Leicester has been pretty bizzare. The sheer relief of being back amongst the big boys, fo llowed by what was a strange Europa league campaign. We wanted to win it, but would contrive to lose it. Then the club captains gets himself into a strange circus of who dun ‘nit in Greece, Mason our wonderboy goes bonkers in Iceland and all this while the board is putting us ...
1 comment
Read more

Something is broken in football and it doesn’t look like it will ever be repaired

No, I am not talking about VAR, Football Authorities, Inflated Transfer Markets, Players, Coaches or Club Executives. I am talking about us, the football fan.  During the lockdown, every stadium has displayed ‘Football is nothing without the fans’. While that is correct, today it’s the fans who are ruining the game. Sounds cruel, well asks the players how they feel, when they read what there own fans write to them on certain platforms. The term ‘reactionary fan base’ was coined by the hardcore loyalists to distance themselves from the volatile fans that surrounded them on different platforms. Terms like ‘agenda merchants’ have also been developed to define the reactions of certain fans. Actually, this is where the trouble really started, the division of the football fan base within a club has deepened since the turn of the millennium and has only accelerated further in the last decade. I see today the first tendency is to blame an increasingly connected world for giving a platform ...
1 comment
Read more