The day Sir Alex Ferguson announced that he had decided to retire as a manager, rival fans rejoiced! The man that had been the key driver in the dominance of Manchester United had decided it was time to hand over the reigns to someone else. It was now time for others to dominate while United would struggle in their Post-SAF era...
Three years have passed in the Post-SAF era, and the club has dithered from one mistake to another. The one that started it was hiring David Moyes when the club had Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti among others to choose from. The club acted slowly then and that has been an undercurrent for a long time now.
So it is only natural, that after 3 years, United sign the one manager that has since I can remember been getting himself ready for the job at The Theatre of Dreams. His unfulfilled dream. Jose Mourinho. His dream? To build a dynasty like Sir Alex Ferguson(his words not mine). What better place to fulfill that dream, than at the very place Sir Alex did. Complete control of the club.
But...history suggests Mourinho won’t last beyond the third season, immediate history would suggest he’d be lucky to complete the third season itself! And that is a fight that Jose will encounter. He is a man filled with ego, and he would surely want to set the record straight. He wanted to at Chelsea, where he had claimed he came back to manage for a long time.
Unfortunately for various reasons, including his own faults, it did not work out. Alternatively looking back at Chelsea(first stint) and Real Madrid, they didn’t do too bad once he left right? Chelsea were lifting the PL two seasons later and Madrid had their La Decima post-Mourinho.
Also Read: 5 signings Jose Mourinho could make at Manchester United
Now he will be back. This time though, he faces a job that is slightly different from the ones he has entered into before. His last four jobs(two stints at Chelsea) have involved him taking the reigns of a team already in the ascendency or close to it.
The Manchester United he will take charge of is a team which seems quite far off from competing for the league, let alone win it. While Louis van Gaal has certainly left a base which is better than what the Dutchman himself or Moyes before him inherited, Mourinho will need to invest money to form a spine.
A footballing team is as strong as its spine and without a good spine, you can never be able to be truly successful. A striker wth a thirst for goals, an experienced center half and a creative spark in the middle are the immediate needs.
Another major difference to anywhere in his career is the importance given to the youngsters. While at previous clubs the brief to Mourinho has been about winning trophies, the brief at United as he would know is to only deliver trophies but to develop youngsters as well.
Now that doesn’t mean he needs to give chances to 10-15 youngsters every season. He will be backed financially by the club to buy whatever he needs, but will also be expected to back that up with the development of youth, a part of the club where there has been heavy investment recently.
That reason in itself means that Mourinho will not face the kind of pressure to deliver trophies that he has faced at other clubs. Sir Alex once went three seasons(longest ever) before he won the league again. During that time, he managed to develop Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney into forces that had defenders all over the world worried when they had the ball.
Mourinho has dreamt and wanted this job for a long time, but it is clear by now that at a club like United, you need to be able to adapt and be ready to change your ideals. Van Gaal’s failure can be attributed to various reasons, but the most underlying fact was that he refused to budge from his ‘Philosphy’, something that Mourinho should remember.
Manchester United will be dearly hoping that this appointment works and they end up being third time lucky, be it short term or long term. History suggests that Mourinho won’t stay past the third year, but history also suggested that Claudio Ranieri would stumble at the end and not win the league, funny how that turned out.
A lot of the negatives around Mourinho have always been over exaggerated except one, and that’s his behaviour. He has acted almost like a Juvenile at times.
There is still hope though one would believe. Luis Suarez seems to have mended his ways since he’s joined Barcelona, who knows joining Manchester United may just mellow down the Special One?
The Old Trafford faithful shall certainly hope it does!
