Jose Mourinho lost the Supercopa to Barcelona, lost his head with a Barca coach - and now he deserves to lose out on the biggest job of all.
I think Mourinho believes he will replace Sir Alex Ferguson when the great man finally retires at Manchester United and until recently I supported him.
Almost 18 months ago, after watching his Inter Milan side take Chelsea apart, I wrote in this column that, "Jose is the only manager in the world with the force of personality big enough to take over from the best boss ever." But almost everything since has been like an anti-CV for the United job.
It's not the negative football he played against Barca in the Champions League last season that particularly worries me. Real were an impressive attacking force against other sides last season, with Ronaldo scoring 53 goals, and you could argue that they outplayed a their deadly rivals over the two legs of this season's curtain-raiser. I've no doubt he could produce an attractive
United side.
It's the other stuff I don't like. Claiming refs are biased against Real. Pulling the ears of rival coaches. Calling Barcelona, the Champions League winners and the best team on the planet, "a small club".
It takes a wind-up merchant to know a wind-up merchant and even in my maddest moments, I would have cringed at that.
United's ethos has always been that no-one is bigger than the club. Not Ince, not Sparky, not Beckham, not Ronaldo. Not even Sir Alex. Would they really hand the reins to a man who makes every big game, every press conference 100% about himself?
It would serve him right if Jose lost the job he really wanted to the man who is frustrating him in Spain at the moment, Pep Guardiola.
But I think the Barcelona coach would be a perfect fit for United. He plays expansive football, he attracts big names and he conducts himself the right way.
For me, he, not Jose, is now The Special One.
**
Three games played. Three games won. The best defensive record in the Championship.
Yep, Derby are really struggling without me, aren't they?
**
Well done to Gary Neville on his Sky Sports debut. He's taken to punditry like a rat up a drainpipe!
By Robbie Savage
No comments:
Post a Comment