Country: England
Player:Saliba
His first step was to play everyone in their actual positions.https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/comedy/435364/Arsène-wenger-jose-mourinho-man-united-arsenal/
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José Mourinho: See Mou Later
- Thread starter Jury
- Start date
- Replies 5,386
- Views 644,332
Country: England
Player:Saliba
His first step was to play everyone in their actual positions.https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/comedy/435364/Arsène-wenger-jose-mourinho-man-united-arsenal/
say yes
forum master baiter
As much as I enjoy watching Mourinho’s reputation get trashed, this is annoying news for us.
When your rivals have a manager who’s clearly not good enough you want them to stick with him for as long as possible.
When your rivals have a manager who’s clearly not good enough you want them to stick with him for as long as possible.
Slartibartfast
CIES Loyalist
I'm telling you, he loves Los Angeles. Has been taking his teams there to train at least since Real Madrid. Bright lights. Big city. Hollywood. Yet a relaxed atmosphere where he can go for dinner or drinks without getting mobbed. He's called it his second home. Ibrahimovic is there. Galaxy are looking for a coach. Seems like the perfect storm.
Batman
Head of the Wayne foundation for benching Nketiah
Country: USA
Player:Saliba
Could see it happening. He's grifted enough money the last few sackings to live comfortably in Los Angeles on the smaller MLS salary. The American press would love him too. We love loudmouth coaches here.I'm telling you, he loves Los Angeles. Has been taking his teams there to train at least since Real Madrid. Bright lights. Big city. Hollywood. Yet a relaxed atmosphere where he can go for dinner or drinks without getting mobbed. He's called it his second home. Ibrahimovic is there. Galaxy are looking for a coach. Seems like the perfect storm.
Apparently his father died not too long ago, this must have been a difficult period for him. It's a high pressure job.
Hopefully he takes some time off to recuperate.
Hopefully he takes some time off to recuperate.
Slartibartfast
CIES Loyalist
You got that last part right!
Well, he certainly looked happier leaving than he has in the past year as manager.
I think things worked out as he liked them too. He's laughing all the way to the bank to the tune of 23 million pounds.
I think things worked out as he liked them too. He's laughing all the way to the bank to the tune of 23 million pounds.
Hjalmaar
Active Member
Country: Finland
He played a blinder. Made such a mess that the club had no other options than to sack him. Read somewhere that getting the boot in january would have got him 'only' 17m. Yeah, he's laughing.
Country: Saudi Arabia
Which club would be crazy enough to touch him at this moment?
At Real Madrid I don't believe anyone other than Perez would be happy at his potential return.
PSG have Tuchel & I suspect he'll be allowed the full length of his contract before Pochettino goes there (he's not joining the train wreck that is Manchester United).
Bayern prefer amenable managers that tow the line.
His only option are Inter where he's still worshipped.
He should just retire. His chance with United was his last to silence his doubters by making a come back. He blew it big time.
Rosso
AM's Resident United Fan
It's all a front.
Rosso
AM's Resident United Fan
Can see him at Inter again. Moratti has already said that he'd have him back, Spaletti is under pressure after flopping at home against PSV in the group stage allowing Sp**s to sneak through. Mourinho will rest up and probably take over in the summer.
He had been expecting to take training at Carrington, but instead José Mourinho was sitting alone at a table in the restaurant at the Lowry Hotel at 2pm yesterday afternoon.
Wearing cream chinos and a black jacket, the sacked 55-year-old sipped a cup of tea while looking out of the window. Behind him stood a grand piano, but alas Alexis Sánchez was not there to tinkle the ivories for his manager before he checked out of the hotel that he has called home for the past two-and-a-half years.
After a while Ricardo Formosinho joined Mourinho at the table, but his former boss barely spoke to him. Instead, Mourinho’s erstwhile assistant coach just sat as his compatriot’s phone pinged incessantly. According to those present, Mourinho fielded call after call, then he was replying to WhatsApp messages from those comforting him after his sacking.
After the pair had finished eating, staff members approached Mourinho to wish him all the best. They had got to know him since he moved in.
Five hours before eating, Mourinho had learnt his fate. Ed Woodward, who spoke to players on Monday, delivered the coup de grâce at Carrington shortly after 9am. The players found out when the club issued a statement at 9.48. According to those in the dressing room, no tears were shed. You could count the number of United players who like Mourinho on one hand. Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini were fans, but the others? Forget it. David Moyes and Louis van Gaal addressed the squad on their final days as United boss. That was not the case with Mourinho. A few went up to see Mourinho in his office, but that was it.
The United manager was not a popular man at Carrington. In text exchanges, some players often used four-letter words to describe him. When asked to describe Mourinho in a few words, one representative of a player said he was “a bit of a t***”.
The first signs of Mourinho’s impending departure came on Sunday evening. Shortly after United’s woeful 3-1 capitulation against Liverpool, Woodward, David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson — among others — congregated in a circle in the directors’ lounge at Anfield. They did not mix with their opposite numbers. To those present in the room, it looked like they were discussing Mourinho’s departure.
In some ways, Mourinho and United seemed the perfect match when they joined forces in the summer of 2016. Here was a born winner, a blockbuster name for a blockbuster club. Just 18 months earlier, he had won the Premier League with Chelsea.
But in many other respects, he was such a bad fit for United. Mourinho, as we all know, is a stubborn character. If he wants something done, he will do it his way, with little thought given to the opinions of others.
When Mourinho turned up to the 60th anniversary memorial of the Munich air disaster wearing dark trainers with a garish white trim on them, and a hoodie under his club suit, some senior figures were appalled. Nobody had the gumption to tell him to put on a pair of smart shoes and ditch the hoodie, though. This was Mourinho. He did what he wanted. When he wanted his son, José Mario Mourinho Jr, to sit with him on the bench for the match against Swansea City in April, he made it happen, even though it bemused long-serving members of staff. “What is he doing here?” one asked.
Mourinho’s first year passed off without major incident. He won two trophies, including the Europa League for the first time.
In the summer of 2017 there was a little annoyance from Mourinho towards Woodward when he refused to pay the £45 million asking price for Ivan Perisic, the Inter Milan winger, but overall his second season went smoothly. Finishing in second place to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was not such a bad achievement.
The cracks in Mourinho’s relationship with the board began to appear in this summer.
Mourinho did not look crestfallen when he walked out of Wembley after the FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea in May. When one board member was asked how he felt, he replied: “Rubbish after watching that”.
Then the gloves came off on United’s pre-season tour of the US this summer. Mourinho started off by shaking the hand of every English reporter at the JD Morgan Center at UCLA before his first press conference, but that is where the bonhomie stopped. By the end of the tour, Mourinho was sitting in reception at the St Regis Bal Harbour hotel, Miami, shouting: “This is ****, this is ****”, down the phone.
The atmosphere between Woodward and Mourinho had become toxic by that point. On a personal level, Mourinho likes Woodward. The two enjoy joking and have meals together, but professionally Mourinho does not rate his old boss, particularly when it comes to his dealings in the transfer market.
In the summer Mourinho was annoyed that Woodward had failed to sign a centre back. Woodward pointed out that he already had signed two in two years at a cost of more than £60 million.
By July, the battle lines had been drawn. There were two sides briefing against each other inside one club. That does not make for a harmonious relationship. When Team Woodward briefed that they were confident that Anthony Martial would sign a new contract, Mourinho countered, letting it be known that he was willing to let the Frenchman go. When Mourinho complained that he needed a centre half to avoid a catastrophic season, Woodward briefed that nobody was available at the right price.
Senior sources confirmed there was a schism between the two when it came to their respective approaches in the transfer market. Woodward vetoed the signings of the 29-year-olds Jérôme Boateng and Toby Alderweireld.
When the season began, Mourinho tried to emphasise his point further by playing Ander Herrera at centre back against Tottenham Hotspur.
Mourinho’s relationship with Paul Pogba then began to deteriorate. Mourinho blamed the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, for trying to engineer a move for his client. Mourinho told friends that Woodward should “shut Raiola down” and never conduct deals with him again. “Ed really did get in too deep with the devil when he started working with Raiola,” a source close to Mourinho said.
By the end of September, shortly after the defeat by West Ham United, the atmosphere within the dressing room had hit an all-time low. “Nobody is taking responsibility,” one player confided in a friend.
Woodward took note of the players’ anger towards Mourinho and he came close to sacking him in October, but thought again. Still, Mourinho’s long-term future was by no means assured. One sponsor asked last month if Mourinho could appear in a promotional video, but the club said no.
When Mourinho claimed in an interview aired last month that four of his young stars, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Martial and Luke Shaw lacked the “character” and “personality” to compete, Woodward was dismayed. “We would have rather he didn’t mention any names,” one senior source said.
By that point, Mourinho’s constant calling out of his players had begun to grate on the board. The next manager will need to “build a positive atmosphere” and “create a united dressing room” one source said yesterday.
The style of play under Mourinho, described as “boring” by one senior figure, also led to the decision to sack the Portuguese. Another was keen to point out that Mourinho had spent almost £400 million on 11 signings during his tenure, which suggests that he was backed sufficiently.
It can be revealed that close friends advised Mourinho against taking the job in 2016 because they were afraid that certain aspects of the club had not been modernised since Ferguson’s departure. Mourinho hated the scouting structure. He felt it was too bloated. Why did none of United’s 50-plus scouts spot Harry Maguire’s potential when he was at Hull City, he complained.
Mourinho also did not get on with some members of the medical department. They were affronted by Mourinho’s decision to communicate via email. Some senior members of United’s medical staff have not spoken to Mourinho face to face in 18 months.
Mourinho was also dismayed at the lack of protection he felt he was receiving from the club’s communications department. When former managers and former players rounded on him, Mourinho felt United should have shot down their claims and backed him publicly. “The lack of communications is the thing that José remembers the most about United,” one source said. “He was left to be vilified.”
Mourinho’s mistrust of the class of ’92 stretches back to when he took the job. Woodward was keen to keep Ryan Giggs on, but Mourinho vetoed the idea because he did not think the Welshman was a man he could trust because of his extra-marital affair with his brother’s wife.
By the end of last week, the United board had had enough of Mourinho’s complaints. They felt that Mourinho was quick to blame others for United’s woes, rather than himself. The Lowry Hotel accountants will miss Mourinho, but United’s board will certainly not.
Wearing cream chinos and a black jacket, the sacked 55-year-old sipped a cup of tea while looking out of the window. Behind him stood a grand piano, but alas Alexis Sánchez was not there to tinkle the ivories for his manager before he checked out of the hotel that he has called home for the past two-and-a-half years.
After a while Ricardo Formosinho joined Mourinho at the table, but his former boss barely spoke to him. Instead, Mourinho’s erstwhile assistant coach just sat as his compatriot’s phone pinged incessantly. According to those present, Mourinho fielded call after call, then he was replying to WhatsApp messages from those comforting him after his sacking.
After the pair had finished eating, staff members approached Mourinho to wish him all the best. They had got to know him since he moved in.
Five hours before eating, Mourinho had learnt his fate. Ed Woodward, who spoke to players on Monday, delivered the coup de grâce at Carrington shortly after 9am. The players found out when the club issued a statement at 9.48. According to those in the dressing room, no tears were shed. You could count the number of United players who like Mourinho on one hand. Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini were fans, but the others? Forget it. David Moyes and Louis van Gaal addressed the squad on their final days as United boss. That was not the case with Mourinho. A few went up to see Mourinho in his office, but that was it.
The United manager was not a popular man at Carrington. In text exchanges, some players often used four-letter words to describe him. When asked to describe Mourinho in a few words, one representative of a player said he was “a bit of a t***”.
The first signs of Mourinho’s impending departure came on Sunday evening. Shortly after United’s woeful 3-1 capitulation against Liverpool, Woodward, David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson — among others — congregated in a circle in the directors’ lounge at Anfield. They did not mix with their opposite numbers. To those present in the room, it looked like they were discussing Mourinho’s departure.
In some ways, Mourinho and United seemed the perfect match when they joined forces in the summer of 2016. Here was a born winner, a blockbuster name for a blockbuster club. Just 18 months earlier, he had won the Premier League with Chelsea.
But in many other respects, he was such a bad fit for United. Mourinho, as we all know, is a stubborn character. If he wants something done, he will do it his way, with little thought given to the opinions of others.
When Mourinho turned up to the 60th anniversary memorial of the Munich air disaster wearing dark trainers with a garish white trim on them, and a hoodie under his club suit, some senior figures were appalled. Nobody had the gumption to tell him to put on a pair of smart shoes and ditch the hoodie, though. This was Mourinho. He did what he wanted. When he wanted his son, José Mario Mourinho Jr, to sit with him on the bench for the match against Swansea City in April, he made it happen, even though it bemused long-serving members of staff. “What is he doing here?” one asked.
Mourinho’s first year passed off without major incident. He won two trophies, including the Europa League for the first time.
In the summer of 2017 there was a little annoyance from Mourinho towards Woodward when he refused to pay the £45 million asking price for Ivan Perisic, the Inter Milan winger, but overall his second season went smoothly. Finishing in second place to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was not such a bad achievement.
The cracks in Mourinho’s relationship with the board began to appear in this summer.
Mourinho did not look crestfallen when he walked out of Wembley after the FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea in May. When one board member was asked how he felt, he replied: “Rubbish after watching that”.
Then the gloves came off on United’s pre-season tour of the US this summer. Mourinho started off by shaking the hand of every English reporter at the JD Morgan Center at UCLA before his first press conference, but that is where the bonhomie stopped. By the end of the tour, Mourinho was sitting in reception at the St Regis Bal Harbour hotel, Miami, shouting: “This is ****, this is ****”, down the phone.
The atmosphere between Woodward and Mourinho had become toxic by that point. On a personal level, Mourinho likes Woodward. The two enjoy joking and have meals together, but professionally Mourinho does not rate his old boss, particularly when it comes to his dealings in the transfer market.
In the summer Mourinho was annoyed that Woodward had failed to sign a centre back. Woodward pointed out that he already had signed two in two years at a cost of more than £60 million.
By July, the battle lines had been drawn. There were two sides briefing against each other inside one club. That does not make for a harmonious relationship. When Team Woodward briefed that they were confident that Anthony Martial would sign a new contract, Mourinho countered, letting it be known that he was willing to let the Frenchman go. When Mourinho complained that he needed a centre half to avoid a catastrophic season, Woodward briefed that nobody was available at the right price.
Senior sources confirmed there was a schism between the two when it came to their respective approaches in the transfer market. Woodward vetoed the signings of the 29-year-olds Jérôme Boateng and Toby Alderweireld.
When the season began, Mourinho tried to emphasise his point further by playing Ander Herrera at centre back against Tottenham Hotspur.
Mourinho’s relationship with Paul Pogba then began to deteriorate. Mourinho blamed the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, for trying to engineer a move for his client. Mourinho told friends that Woodward should “shut Raiola down” and never conduct deals with him again. “Ed really did get in too deep with the devil when he started working with Raiola,” a source close to Mourinho said.
By the end of September, shortly after the defeat by West Ham United, the atmosphere within the dressing room had hit an all-time low. “Nobody is taking responsibility,” one player confided in a friend.
Woodward took note of the players’ anger towards Mourinho and he came close to sacking him in October, but thought again. Still, Mourinho’s long-term future was by no means assured. One sponsor asked last month if Mourinho could appear in a promotional video, but the club said no.
When Mourinho claimed in an interview aired last month that four of his young stars, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Martial and Luke Shaw lacked the “character” and “personality” to compete, Woodward was dismayed. “We would have rather he didn’t mention any names,” one senior source said.
By that point, Mourinho’s constant calling out of his players had begun to grate on the board. The next manager will need to “build a positive atmosphere” and “create a united dressing room” one source said yesterday.
The style of play under Mourinho, described as “boring” by one senior figure, also led to the decision to sack the Portuguese. Another was keen to point out that Mourinho had spent almost £400 million on 11 signings during his tenure, which suggests that he was backed sufficiently.
It can be revealed that close friends advised Mourinho against taking the job in 2016 because they were afraid that certain aspects of the club had not been modernised since Ferguson’s departure. Mourinho hated the scouting structure. He felt it was too bloated. Why did none of United’s 50-plus scouts spot Harry Maguire’s potential when he was at Hull City, he complained.
Mourinho also did not get on with some members of the medical department. They were affronted by Mourinho’s decision to communicate via email. Some senior members of United’s medical staff have not spoken to Mourinho face to face in 18 months.
Mourinho was also dismayed at the lack of protection he felt he was receiving from the club’s communications department. When former managers and former players rounded on him, Mourinho felt United should have shot down their claims and backed him publicly. “The lack of communications is the thing that José remembers the most about United,” one source said. “He was left to be vilified.”
Mourinho’s mistrust of the class of ’92 stretches back to when he took the job. Woodward was keen to keep Ryan Giggs on, but Mourinho vetoed the idea because he did not think the Welshman was a man he could trust because of his extra-marital affair with his brother’s wife.
By the end of last week, the United board had had enough of Mourinho’s complaints. They felt that Mourinho was quick to blame others for United’s woes, rather than himself. The Lowry Hotel accountants will miss Mourinho, but United’s board will certainly not.
at the second to last paragraph.
At first it looks damming. But if you read it again it looks like any regular sacking, if you can call it that.Fascinating stuff in the Times. Seems like Ed Woodward is a big problem there too, with his briefing the press constantly and undermining the manager. AlsoHe had been expecting to take training at Carrington, but instead José Mourinho was sitting alone at a table in the restaurant at the Lowry Hotel at 2pm yesterday afternoon.
Wearing cream chinos and a black jacket, the sacked 55-year-old sipped a cup of tea while looking out of the window. Behind him stood a grand piano, but alas Alexis Sánchez was not there to tinkle the ivories for his manager before he checked out of the hotel that he has called home for the past two-and-a-half years.
After a while Ricardo Formosinho joined Mourinho at the table, but his former boss barely spoke to him. Instead, Mourinho’s erstwhile assistant coach just sat as his compatriot’s phone pinged incessantly. According to those present, Mourinho fielded call after call, then he was replying to WhatsApp messages from those comforting him after his sacking.
After the pair had finished eating, staff members approached Mourinho to wish him all the best. They had got to know him since he moved in.
Five hours before eating, Mourinho had learnt his fate. Ed Woodward, who spoke to players on Monday, delivered the coup de grâce at Carrington shortly after 9am. The players found out when the club issued a statement at 9.48. According to those in the dressing room, no tears were shed. You could count the number of United players who like Mourinho on one hand. Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini were fans, but the others? Forget it. David Moyes and Louis van Gaal addressed the squad on their final days as United boss. That was not the case with Mourinho. A few went up to see Mourinho in his office, but that was it.
The United manager was not a popular man at Carrington. In text exchanges, some players often used four-letter words to describe him. When asked to describe Mourinho in a few words, one representative of a player said he was “a bit of a t***”.
The first signs of Mourinho’s impending departure came on Sunday evening. Shortly after United’s woeful 3-1 capitulation against Liverpool, Woodward, David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson — among others — congregated in a circle in the directors’ lounge at Anfield. They did not mix with their opposite numbers. To those present in the room, it looked like they were discussing Mourinho’s departure.
In some ways, Mourinho and United seemed the perfect match when they joined forces in the summer of 2016. Here was a born winner, a blockbuster name for a blockbuster club. Just 18 months earlier, he had won the Premier League with Chelsea.
But in many other respects, he was such a bad fit for United. Mourinho, as we all know, is a stubborn character. If he wants something done, he will do it his way, with little thought given to the opinions of others.
When Mourinho turned up to the 60th anniversary memorial of the Munich air disaster wearing dark trainers with a garish white trim on them, and a hoodie under his club suit, some senior figures were appalled. Nobody had the gumption to tell him to put on a pair of smart shoes and ditch the hoodie, though. This was Mourinho. He did what he wanted. When he wanted his son, José Mario Mourinho Jr, to sit with him on the bench for the match against Swansea City in April, he made it happen, even though it bemused long-serving members of staff. “What is he doing here?” one asked.
Mourinho’s first year passed off without major incident. He won two trophies, including the Europa League for the first time.
In the summer of 2017 there was a little annoyance from Mourinho towards Woodward when he refused to pay the £45 million asking price for Ivan Perisic, the Inter Milan winger, but overall his second season went smoothly. Finishing in second place to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was not such a bad achievement.
The cracks in Mourinho’s relationship with the board began to appear in this summer.
Mourinho did not look crestfallen when he walked out of Wembley after the FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea in May. When one board member was asked how he felt, he replied: “Rubbish after watching that”.
Then the gloves came off on United’s pre-season tour of the US this summer. Mourinho started off by shaking the hand of every English reporter at the JD Morgan Center at UCLA before his first press conference, but that is where the bonhomie stopped. By the end of the tour, Mourinho was sitting in reception at the St Regis Bal Harbour hotel, Miami, shouting: “This is ****, this is ****”, down the phone.
The atmosphere between Woodward and Mourinho had become toxic by that point. On a personal level, Mourinho likes Woodward. The two enjoy joking and have meals together, but professionally Mourinho does not rate his old boss, particularly when it comes to his dealings in the transfer market.
In the summer Mourinho was annoyed that Woodward had failed to sign a centre back. Woodward pointed out that he already had signed two in two years at a cost of more than £60 million.
By July, the battle lines had been drawn. There were two sides briefing against each other inside one club. That does not make for a harmonious relationship. When Team Woodward briefed that they were confident that Anthony Martial would sign a new contract, Mourinho countered, letting it be known that he was willing to let the Frenchman go. When Mourinho complained that he needed a centre half to avoid a catastrophic season, Woodward briefed that nobody was available at the right price.
Senior sources confirmed there was a schism between the two when it came to their respective approaches in the transfer market. Woodward vetoed the signings of the 29-year-olds Jérôme Boateng and Toby Alderweireld.
When the season began, Mourinho tried to emphasise his point further by playing Ander Herrera at centre back against Tottenham Hotspur.
Mourinho’s relationship with Paul Pogba then began to deteriorate. Mourinho blamed the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, for trying to engineer a move for his client. Mourinho told friends that Woodward should “shut Raiola down” and never conduct deals with him again. “Ed really did get in too deep with the devil when he started working with Raiola,” a source close to Mourinho said.
By the end of September, shortly after the defeat by West Ham United, the atmosphere within the dressing room had hit an all-time low. “Nobody is taking responsibility,” one player confided in a friend.
Woodward took note of the players’ anger towards Mourinho and he came close to sacking him in October, but thought again. Still, Mourinho’s long-term future was by no means assured. One sponsor asked last month if Mourinho could appear in a promotional video, but the club said no.
When Mourinho claimed in an interview aired last month that four of his young stars, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Martial and Luke Shaw lacked the “character” and “personality” to compete, Woodward was dismayed. “We would have rather he didn’t mention any names,” one senior source said.
By that point, Mourinho’s constant calling out of his players had begun to grate on the board. The next manager will need to “build a positive atmosphere” and “create a united dressing room” one source said yesterday.
The style of play under Mourinho, described as “boring” by one senior figure, also led to the decision to sack the Portuguese. Another was keen to point out that Mourinho had spent almost £400 million on 11 signings during his tenure, which suggests that he was backed sufficiently.
It can be revealed that close friends advised Mourinho against taking the job in 2016 because they were afraid that certain aspects of the club had not been modernised since Ferguson’s departure. Mourinho hated the scouting structure. He felt it was too bloated. Why did none of United’s 50-plus scouts spot Harry Maguire’s potential when he was at Hull City, he complained.
Mourinho also did not get on with some members of the medical department. They were affronted by Mourinho’s decision to communicate via email. Some senior members of United’s medical staff have not spoken to Mourinho face to face in 18 months.
Mourinho was also dismayed at the lack of protection he felt he was receiving from the club’s communications department. When former managers and former players rounded on him, Mourinho felt United should have shot down their claims and backed him publicly. “The lack of communications is the thing that José remembers the most about United,” one source said. “He was left to be vilified.”
Mourinho’s mistrust of the class of ’92 stretches back to when he took the job. Woodward was keen to keep Ryan Giggs on, but Mourinho vetoed the idea because he did not think the Welshman was a man he could trust because of his extra-marital affair with his brother’s wife.
By the end of last week, the United board had had enough of Mourinho’s complaints. They felt that Mourinho was quick to blame others for United’s woes, rather than himself. The Lowry Hotel accountants will miss Mourinho, but United’s board will certainly not.
Good of The Times to be neutral
He can fcuk off to the match fixers Juventus, and they can hump each other.
Beksl
Sell All The Youngsters
Fascinating stuff in the Times. Seems like Ed Woodward is a big problem there too, with his briefing the press constantly and undermining the manager. AlsoHe had been expecting to take training at Carrington, but instead José Mourinho was sitting alone at a table in the restaurant at the Lowry Hotel at 2pm yesterday afternoon.
Wearing cream chinos and a black jacket, the sacked 55-year-old sipped a cup of tea while looking out of the window. Behind him stood a grand piano, but alas Alexis Sánchez was not there to tinkle the ivories for his manager before he checked out of the hotel that he has called home for the past two-and-a-half years.
After a while Ricardo Formosinho joined Mourinho at the table, but his former boss barely spoke to him. Instead, Mourinho’s erstwhile assistant coach just sat as his compatriot’s phone pinged incessantly. According to those present, Mourinho fielded call after call, then he was replying to WhatsApp messages from those comforting him after his sacking.
After the pair had finished eating, staff members approached Mourinho to wish him all the best. They had got to know him since he moved in.
Five hours before eating, Mourinho had learnt his fate. Ed Woodward, who spoke to players on Monday, delivered the coup de grâce at Carrington shortly after 9am. The players found out when the club issued a statement at 9.48. According to those in the dressing room, no tears were shed. You could count the number of United players who like Mourinho on one hand. Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku, Ashley Young and Marouane Fellaini were fans, but the others? Forget it. David Moyes and Louis van Gaal addressed the squad on their final days as United boss. That was not the case with Mourinho. A few went up to see Mourinho in his office, but that was it.
The United manager was not a popular man at Carrington. In text exchanges, some players often used four-letter words to describe him. When asked to describe Mourinho in a few words, one representative of a player said he was “a bit of a t***”.
The first signs of Mourinho’s impending departure came on Sunday evening. Shortly after United’s woeful 3-1 capitulation against Liverpool, Woodward, David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson — among others — congregated in a circle in the directors’ lounge at Anfield. They did not mix with their opposite numbers. To those present in the room, it looked like they were discussing Mourinho’s departure.
In some ways, Mourinho and United seemed the perfect match when they joined forces in the summer of 2016. Here was a born winner, a blockbuster name for a blockbuster club. Just 18 months earlier, he had won the Premier League with Chelsea.
But in many other respects, he was such a bad fit for United. Mourinho, as we all know, is a stubborn character. If he wants something done, he will do it his way, with little thought given to the opinions of others.
When Mourinho turned up to the 60th anniversary memorial of the Munich air disaster wearing dark trainers with a garish white trim on them, and a hoodie under his club suit, some senior figures were appalled. Nobody had the gumption to tell him to put on a pair of smart shoes and ditch the hoodie, though. This was Mourinho. He did what he wanted. When he wanted his son, José Mario Mourinho Jr, to sit with him on the bench for the match against Swansea City in April, he made it happen, even though it bemused long-serving members of staff. “What is he doing here?” one asked.
Mourinho’s first year passed off without major incident. He won two trophies, including the Europa League for the first time.
In the summer of 2017 there was a little annoyance from Mourinho towards Woodward when he refused to pay the £45 million asking price for Ivan Perisic, the Inter Milan winger, but overall his second season went smoothly. Finishing in second place to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was not such a bad achievement.
The cracks in Mourinho’s relationship with the board began to appear in this summer.
Mourinho did not look crestfallen when he walked out of Wembley after the FA Cup final defeat by Chelsea in May. When one board member was asked how he felt, he replied: “Rubbish after watching that”.
Then the gloves came off on United’s pre-season tour of the US this summer. Mourinho started off by shaking the hand of every English reporter at the JD Morgan Center at UCLA before his first press conference, but that is where the bonhomie stopped. By the end of the tour, Mourinho was sitting in reception at the St Regis Bal Harbour hotel, Miami, shouting: “This is ****, this is ****”, down the phone.
The atmosphere between Woodward and Mourinho had become toxic by that point. On a personal level, Mourinho likes Woodward. The two enjoy joking and have meals together, but professionally Mourinho does not rate his old boss, particularly when it comes to his dealings in the transfer market.
In the summer Mourinho was annoyed that Woodward had failed to sign a centre back. Woodward pointed out that he already had signed two in two years at a cost of more than £60 million.
By July, the battle lines had been drawn. There were two sides briefing against each other inside one club. That does not make for a harmonious relationship. When Team Woodward briefed that they were confident that Anthony Martial would sign a new contract, Mourinho countered, letting it be known that he was willing to let the Frenchman go. When Mourinho complained that he needed a centre half to avoid a catastrophic season, Woodward briefed that nobody was available at the right price.
Senior sources confirmed there was a schism between the two when it came to their respective approaches in the transfer market. Woodward vetoed the signings of the 29-year-olds Jérôme Boateng and Toby Alderweireld.
When the season began, Mourinho tried to emphasise his point further by playing Ander Herrera at centre back against Tottenham Hotspur.
Mourinho’s relationship with Paul Pogba then began to deteriorate. Mourinho blamed the player’s agent, Mino Raiola, for trying to engineer a move for his client. Mourinho told friends that Woodward should “shut Raiola down” and never conduct deals with him again. “Ed really did get in too deep with the devil when he started working with Raiola,” a source close to Mourinho said.
By the end of September, shortly after the defeat by West Ham United, the atmosphere within the dressing room had hit an all-time low. “Nobody is taking responsibility,” one player confided in a friend.
Woodward took note of the players’ anger towards Mourinho and he came close to sacking him in October, but thought again. Still, Mourinho’s long-term future was by no means assured. One sponsor asked last month if Mourinho could appear in a promotional video, but the club said no.
When Mourinho claimed in an interview aired last month that four of his young stars, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Martial and Luke Shaw lacked the “character” and “personality” to compete, Woodward was dismayed. “We would have rather he didn’t mention any names,” one senior source said.
By that point, Mourinho’s constant calling out of his players had begun to grate on the board. The next manager will need to “build a positive atmosphere” and “create a united dressing room” one source said yesterday.
The style of play under Mourinho, described as “boring” by one senior figure, also led to the decision to sack the Portuguese. Another was keen to point out that Mourinho had spent almost £400 million on 11 signings during his tenure, which suggests that he was backed sufficiently.
It can be revealed that close friends advised Mourinho against taking the job in 2016 because they were afraid that certain aspects of the club had not been modernised since Ferguson’s departure. Mourinho hated the scouting structure. He felt it was too bloated. Why did none of United’s 50-plus scouts spot Harry Maguire’s potential when he was at Hull City, he complained.
Mourinho also did not get on with some members of the medical department. They were affronted by Mourinho’s decision to communicate via email. Some senior members of United’s medical staff have not spoken to Mourinho face to face in 18 months.
Mourinho was also dismayed at the lack of protection he felt he was receiving from the club’s communications department. When former managers and former players rounded on him, Mourinho felt United should have shot down their claims and backed him publicly. “The lack of communications is the thing that José remembers the most about United,” one source said. “He was left to be vilified.”
Mourinho’s mistrust of the class of ’92 stretches back to when he took the job. Woodward was keen to keep Ryan Giggs on, but Mourinho vetoed the idea because he did not think the Welshman was a man he could trust because of his extra-marital affair with his brother’s wife.
By the end of last week, the United board had had enough of Mourinho’s complaints. They felt that Mourinho was quick to blame others for United’s woes, rather than himself. The Lowry Hotel accountants will miss Mourinho, but United’s board will certainly not.
Funny how he expected the club's communication department to protect him while give absolutely no protection to his own players. Deluded CVNT!
RacingPhoton
Established Member
Sorry. My post wasn't clear. When I told methods, I meant his defensive tactics. Off the field, he is a **** and we all know that. He gets even worse when the going gets hard.
Country: Norway
Back to Italy he goes methinks.
Country: England
I'm telling you, he loves Los Angeles. Has been taking his teams there to train at least since Real Madrid. Bright lights. Big city. Hollywood. Yet a relaxed atmosphere where he can go for dinner or drinks without getting mobbed. He's called it his second home. Ibrahimovic is there. Galaxy are looking for a coach. Seems like the perfect storm.
He likes LA as a pre-season option because it's so much better than the alternatives. I can call to many press-conferences where he says the ideal Pre-Season is at home in England but for commercial reasons he has to go abroad so LA is a better option than somewhere in Asia for e.g.
I can see him getting something in England at some point if he plays the long game, a team will bite. As I said, it's where his family are and where his kids are studying. In the mean time he has 25M to blow.
Slartibartfast
CIES Loyalist
I was half-kidding, of course. But that said, if the Galaxy actually wanted him they could easily give him 10 million reasons every season to make the move. Last year, Tata Martino was the 5th-highest paid club manager in the world, behind only Pep, Jose, Carlo and Arsène Wenger. The Galaxy could throw a lot more money at a coach than Atlanta. He's not getting that sort of money to coach Newcastle or in Portugal or Italy or even in Spain at this point. The Galaxy actually could afford to meet his price, whatever it is. Hell, they could afford to give him a raise if they wanted him badly enough.
Of course if he's coaching in England the ideal pre-season location is in England, but wherever he's coaching (including California) would be the ideal place. Mourinho has been coming to L.A. since 2004 and has openly expressed his love for the city and for UCLA. He's spoken of how much he enjoys having the freedom to go out and not be mobbed (I mean, who is going to pay much attention to Jose Mourinho when Brad Pitt and George Clooney are around all the time?). He told writer Grant Wahl that he would love to coach in Los Angeles, or at least in America, someday. Maybe now, considering his circumstances, would be the perfect time.
As for his family, they can always move to California. The Beckhams were far more entrenched in England than the Mourinhos and they did it. His daughter was even born in L.A. A lot of Europeans love California because of the warm weather and laid back lifestyle. Klinsmann lived there for years before becoming the USMNT coach.
So while, as I said, I was half kidding, it actually could make some sense and there's really no reason it couldn't happen.
