The inside story of why Jose Mourinho's Manchester United tenure was doomed from day one
It went wrong from day one. Manchester United's squad was not good enough, the stadium was not good enough, the training ground was not good enough.
Jose Mourinho took people aback at the club with the extent of his criticism. After all being manager at Old Trafford was a job he had lobbied for extremely hard in 2016 and although there were problems, issues, things to be addressed – was it really that bad?
Those first few days set the tone, especially with the club adamant that they had bent over backwards to provide Mourinho with everything he wanted. They would continue to do that, but it never seemed enough. He never, frankly, appeared to be the ‘Happy One” as he professed on his return to Chelsea.
When he was sacked by Roman Abramovich for the second time the phrase that was used was “palpable discord”. The same has happened at United. Staff feel beaten down, it has all been too negative. There needed to be a change of culture. There needs to be a liberation.
United thought they were hiring a manager who would take on Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in the way he had done in Spain with Real Madrid’s rivalry with Barcelona. But he never got close.
All 11 signings made under Mourinho’s watch were his – and United have been left frustrated by suggestions otherwise. He wanted all the players and they have cost the club £400million. That is some outlay, especially when Mourinho has appeared to want to discard most of them – and then wanted more.
A schism opened up last summer. Mourinho disappointed United with his complaints during pre-season, his demands for another centre-half, his withering dismissal of the youth players on tour. It did not go unnoticed how Guardiola and Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino spent their time praising the young players they had to use.
An obvious concern for United was that fracture between Mourinho and the dressing room but that extended to other staff at the club. At the same time there have been rumblings of discontent with some star names wanting out, reluctant to sign new deals of feeling ostracised.
Even the issue of a director of football was maddening. United wanted one, Mourinho said he wanted one – but there was no common ground. United had the impression that who ever they wanted the manager would not go for.
The final warning was there at Anfield on Sunday when it became apparent that Mourinho needed not just a result against Liverpool but a performance. United have, in truth, played poorly under him and if he does not achieve results then there is little to love about the football.
It has not been good enough. The style is poor, the players appear shackled, inhibited, unhappy. There is no sign that Mourinho wanted to develop them. He just wanted to change them – and, again, United were disappointed when he reeled off the names of Liverpool players all signed while Mourinho was United manager. He did not go for any of them.
It was a minor detail but Mourinho’s insistence that he would stay at the Lowry Hotel throughout his time at United, albeit in a suite that was effectively a flat, did not appear to show commitment. His family home remained in London, his wife stayed there and fair enough. But it meant Mourinho always felt like he was passing through.
One word that has been used this morning to describe Mourinho’s time in charge has been “unsettling”. United are in crisis and there were some of us who said, from the start, that Mourinho was not the right man for the job. From day one that appeared to be the case.
