Enough is enough.
The self-anointed 'Greatest Show on Earth' kicked off with 'The Special One' taking his seemingly unheralded side to face Leicester City. Manchester United won 2-1 thanks to a Paul Pogba penalty and a Luke Shaw goal before conceding a late Vardy consolation.
It was a bizarre match, coming in the backdrop of Mourinho whining constantly about everything from paternity leave, supposed lack of signings, to the time it took to get to the stadium from the hotel!
There are a few certainties in the glorious game of football but Mourinho exploding like a supernova in his third season is one of them. It is usually preceded by winning the title but that didn’t happen thanks to Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Manchester City side, who played some of the best football ever seen in England.
This time we appear to have skipped the winning part, and he has started seeing ghosts everywhere before fantastically imploding, leaving the club to pick up the pieces.
At Real Madrid, he turned into a control freak and there was a complete breakdown of relationship with players. In his second round at Chelsea, he lashed out at everyone going as far as to call his players ‘rats’ and slamming former physio Eva Carnerio for doing her job!
The way Mourinho has complained in pre-season, one would’ve thought that this is the worst United side to ever pull on the famous red shirt despite the fact that they’ve some of the World Cup's best performers among their ranks.
He has been a study in disgruntlement, whose constant moaning would put Indian news anchors in the shade. Even an easy win against Leicester couldn’t turn his frown upside down.
After the match, in a thinly-veiled attack on Ed Woodward, Mourinho said the title of ‘manager’ ought to be downgraded to ‘head coach’.
Denied an elite centre-back, his gripe appeared to be that United’s board were making the calls. He said: “It will be a difficult season for everybody, not just for us. I had my plans for many months and I find myself with the market closed in a situation I did not think I would be in. It’s the last time I speak about it. It’s over, the market is closed. That’s football management. I think football is changing and managers should be called head coaches.”
He went on to claim that Leicester City had spent more and added: “We play against a team that invest more than us. They spent more money than us, so in the Premier League we must get used to teams with players of the same quality that we have. Forget the name, the history, the shirt, every match is difficult.”
Claiming Leicester City has spent more is being extremely economic with the truth, particularly when the United board hasn't been stingy at all.
Since Mourinho took over in the summer of 2016, Manchester United have splashed the cash for their new manager. The Red Devils have lavished around £ 382 million on transfers and recouping only £ 80 million, taking it to a net spend of £ 302 million. Only their noisy neighbours Manchester City have spent more, racking up a net spend of £ 388 million. They’ve also spent big bucks to sign free agents like Alexis Sanchez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, handing out eye-watering packages.
That puts United only one big signing away from City who are performing on another level all together. Liverpool (£114m), Chelsea (£168.5m), Arsenal (£161m) and Tottenham (£76m) are all miles behind in net spend.
The received wisdom in the Manchester United boardroom appears to be that enough is enough. They disagree with Mourinho on his transfer choices, believing that the outlay doesn’t justify the results. They think spending a huge amount of money on Maguire, Alderweireld et al won’t significantly improve United’s defence.
They are also not taking kindly to the notion that United’s centre-backs aren't up to the mark considering Mourinho himself signed Lindelof and Bailly, both of whom were actually good against Leicester.
They also disagree on the futures of Pogba, Martial and Shaw, who appear to be at loggerheads with the manager. The board believe that all three of them are important figures who will remain assets for United in years to come.
Shaw and Pogba were both spectacular against Leicester, the latter playing like a ‘monster’ despite only returning from holiday four days ago. It was something Mourinho admitted after he had handed over the arm band to the World Cup winner. Pogba even appeared to take a dig at Mourinho in his Instagram post: “I’ll always give my best to the fans and my teammates no matter what’s going on.” The absence of Mourinho's name is no coincidence.
The board has always given Mourinho the players he desired, going as far as to break the bank to hand eye-boggling salaries to the likes of Sanchez and Ibrahimovic.
From top to bottom – David De Gea, Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling, Lindelof, Luke Shaw, Fred, Pogba, Matic, Herrera, Sanchez, Rashford, Martial, Lingard, Lukaku and co – Mourinho has an extremely talented bunch of players who would be winning the league 9 out of 10 times if Sir Alex Ferguson was the manager.
Mourinho was hand-picked as his successor because he guarantees success. If he is unable to do that, it’s quite unlikely that the Manchester United board will continue to back an insouciant manager who keeps on demanding more expensive toys and keeps throwing his current ones out of the pram. We’ve seen how that ends before and unless Mourinho gets his act together, there's no other option for the board but to look for a 'head coach' elsewhere.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Jose Mourinho")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}