BBC: United hold talks with Mourinho

Would you be happy to see Jose Mourinho become next United manager?

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Ducklegs said:
Hes only managed toxic clubs owner by power mad lunatics over the past ten years.
Of course he isnt going to be able to keep things up for thd long term.
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He will never have had it tougher in the past than he will next season and beyond. Pep, Conte, Wenger, Pochettino, and now even the likes of West Ham, Liecester and Southampton. If José doesn't win a title or CL for a couple of years on the bounce will a club like United who's supposedly all about their classy image put up with Mou's antics?
 
SteveJ said:
We all know what we're going to get with Mourinho, both the good and the bad. Similarly, we all knew what we were getting with Moyes and van Gaal...but we support these managers until they give us reason not to; we just hope that the good outweighs the bad, and there's nothing wrong with that approach.
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Agreed.
Up until 1st January, I was a very strong supporter of LVG. Possession football was the way forward and it would see us dominate the league and be able to play Barca/Bayern at their own game.
Unfortunately, it didnt quite work out that way. And LVG has proved that 4th/5th place is all he is capable of. And for this reason, I want him gone.
 
sunama said:
I was never one of those.
I wanted Jose to replace SAF. He was the only manager in the World (IMO), who could replace SAF - huge ego, wants to be in control, disliked by many in the footballing fraternity, ruthless, puts winning about everything else.
Mourinho is a younger version of SAF.
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SAF was adored by the football fraternity. He was like a father figure for most managers in the league - except Wenger of course.

They are very similar in a lot of ways but SAF is far more gracious, far more generous in his assessment of others and has far more class.

But yes, it would have been the obvious choice. I was never absolutely convinced Mourinho wanted to come to us more than Chelsea, as everyone else on here seemed to be.
 
Adebesi said:
SAF was adored by the football fraternity. He was like a father figure for most managers in the league - except Wenger of course.

They are very similar in a lot of ways but SAF is far more gracious, far more generous in his assessment of others and has far more class.

But yes, it would have been the obvious choice. I was never absolutely convinced Mourinho wanted to come to us more than Chelsea, as everyone else on here seemed to be.
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Why? The journos seem to think it + Mourinho was warming to United even when managing other clubs. He called Old Trafford his home when managing Inter and playing us in the away leg IIRC.
 
VP89 said:
Why? The journos seem to think it + Mourinho was warming to United even when managing other clubs. He called Old Trafford his home when managing Inter and playing us in the away leg IIRC.
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Despite my cynicism about Mourinho coming here now; I do feel that he really wanted the job when Fergie retired and the fact that it was announced that he was returning to Stamford Bridge after we announced Moyes is no coincidence, IMO.
 
VP89 said:
Why? The journos seem to think it + Mourinho was warming to United even when managing other clubs. He called Old Trafford his home when managing Inter and playing us in the away leg IIRC.
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Ive had this conversation a thousand times before on here so I cant be bothered to go into it in too much detail but suffice it to say I always felt his flattering remarks about us were more to do with his respect for SAF than any desire to manage us. I thought he would prefer to go back to Chelsea because he already had a strong rapport with the fans there and because the experience of the intervening years will have made Abramovich wiser about what he had, and less inclined to pull the trigger and sack him. Plus the London over Manchester factor.

Its not exactly the same conversation but here is something I posted back in 2012 about where Mourinho might next manage in England. This contains some more thoughts about why he might not have seen United as his dream job.

Adebesi said:
It will be interesting to see what sort of challenge Mourinho plumps for. Because they are completely different types of challenge and pressure, United on the one hand, versus City or Chelsea on the other (to be fair there are also big differences between those two jobs as well.)

At United you have the chance to succeed someone with god-like status, where there is little that can be done to be perceived as transcending your predecessor (sustained domination of Europe would look to be the only real route to this as far as I can see) but plenty of downside risk. In other words, you do well and it is seen as continuity, you do badly it is seen as squandering an inheritance. For that slightly skewed risk profile, he gets to take over the most successful and prestigious team in the land.

On the other hand he could take on a club that will pay him more, give him more money to spend on players, where his success will not always be measured against an almost impossible benchmark, where he will not have to deal with people pining for the past - a past which has been glorious but which will be inflated still further by the passage of time, so that all the bad shit - the refusal to buy midfielders, the 442 dogma, the over-reliance on Scholes and Giggs - will be glossed over or forgotten about, and only the titles, the cups and the persona will be remembered.

Ive said before, if he really wanted to do something monumental, something that would make people sit back and think, wow, now that is a manager who can work miracles, and dispel the notion that he can only do his thing when backed up by unlimited resources, he should take over Liverpool. Awakening that sleeping giant and delivering them a title would be the biggest achievement he could deliver in my opinion, more than fixing a team with a winning mentality at Chelsea, picking up from where Mancini left off at City, or maintaining the success at United. But that isnt going to happen.

On paper, to me the City or Chelsea job would look more appealing to a neutral, someone with no former association with United. But it is hard to quantify the prestige associated with our club, or how he would perceive that. We certainly have more prestige than City or Chelsea, but how that compares to the money depends on the individual. Having just come from Madrid, he doesnt really have much left to prove in terms of managing prestigious football clubs.
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SteveJ said:
We all know what we're going to get with Mourinho, both the good and the bad. Similarly, we all knew what we were getting with Moyes and van Gaal...but we support these managers until they give us reason not to; we just hope that the good outweighs the bad, and there's nothing wrong with that approach.
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I agree with you about Moyes, I knew he would be shite and I never supported him from the start unless he gave me a reason to support him, which he never did.

I have to say I am disappointed by LvG, I expected him to fulfil on all his promises and he hasn't.

Jose is a cnut & I expect him to be a cnut, but I also expect him to deliver.

btw, what happened to happy, funny Stevie? :) LvG has made you into a sad Stevie? :(
 
When he goes to PSG or Madrid in the summer I'm going to come back to this thread and piss myself with laughter :lol: because the only other option will be to cry and carry on watching LVG
 
sunama said:
I was never one of those.
I wanted Jose to replace SAF. He was the only manager in the World (IMO), who could replace SAF - huge ego, wants to be in control, disliked by many in the footballing fraternity, ruthless, puts winning about everything else.
Mourinho is a younger version of SAF.
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I still don't particularly want Mourinho here, for most of the same reasons as others. He is rarely gracious in defeat or victory (apart from the shameless 'job application' interview after Real beat us in the CL). When the pressure is really on, he reverts to type. Poking Vilanova in the eye, humiliating the team physio, claiming referee conspiracies etc. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to warm to him as you do with some players, along the lines of "well he might be a c**t, but at least he's our c**t".

However, it will no doubt be entertaining when he arrives and given the choices we have at the moment, i.e. another 12 month borefest under LVG or throwing the dice with Giggs he is the only viable option.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
When he goes to PSG or Madrid in the summer I'm going to come back to this thread and piss myself with laughter :lol: because the only other option will be to cry and carry on watching LVG
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Then cry when you realise you will have to watch LvG's United from next season.:(
Didn't see the white text.:lol:
 
2 Man Midfield said:
I don't really understand this view. From the reports it would seem that members of the board share this opinion as well, but for more it's just as bad as the whole 'we stand by our managers' false moral compass. I don't care if we're managed by an arsehole on a stick, as long as he wins us trophies. Sir Alex Ferguson wasn't exactly mother Theresa, but he won trophies. Other teams hated us, and I for one loved every minute of it. Sure, we could stick with Van Gaal (which is odd, since he's also a bit of a twat) but what will we win? We might have another shot at the FA cup, but not the league and certainly nothing in Europe. Mourinho is easily the best man for the job and the frustrating thing for many here is, he has been since December.
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I wouldn't say I think it's a great idea, but my biggest fear is Giggs taking over, not another year of LVG. If we've already agreed terms with another serious manager for 2017, I can stomach LVG's football for another year.

A lot of people, me included, have criticised the board for lacking the balls to dismiss LVG, but actually it would take a lot of guts for the owners to stick with him. He's cost them a fortune in transfer fees and his results have actually cost them money with the falling attendances and lost CL revenue. If they stick with him, there must be a good reason, even though none of us can see it.

Perhaps they (and Mourinho) feel it would be unwise for Mou to join at the same time as Guardiola, as the pressure would be enormous. Maybe they want to give LVG another year to develop the young players before passing them on, fully formed, to the new manager. Mourinho doesn't have many options at the moment and it's unlikely he'll have more options in a year's time - Barca will still hate him, PSG will still be in a pointless league, RM and Chelsea will still be off limits and Klopp will still be at Liverpool.

Anyway, as long as the long-term appointee isn't Giggs I can live with it.
 
Shark said:
This thread is becoming a real pain in the arse. I just can't help the feeling that the club is still waiting to see how the season ends, which is why we haven't done a Man City and announce the deal already if it's happening. LVG isn't some nice guy that deserves some kind of respect, he should be told that he hasn't done a good enough job, instead he's being mollycoddled.
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Van Gaal has an explosive personality and it's a smart decision not to announce anything until these last few games are over. Look at his handling of the press, if we make an announcement they will be on him like rabid dogs and he will give it back, embarrassing for a club like this. We could still sneak fourth if Lady Luck smiles and I am confident of beating palace. I do have a suspicion that Van Gaal will do something really stupid in the final to show everyone how clever he is thus sabotaging our chances for his ego. I hope not, he should leave with some dignity and we should treat him with some respect. Definately should not continue with the club, I think everyone has seen enough to be convinced that his methods just don't work for a club of this stature. Bayern and Barca realized this and so did the Dutch Federation the first time around. He is not capable of managing a team of stars and big players and that is why his stand out achievements over the last few years was AZ and a miserable Dutch side in 14.
 
The Purley King said:
I still don't particularly want Mourinho here, for most of the same reasons as others. He is rarely gracious in defeat or victory (apart from the shameless 'job application' interview after Real beat us in the CL). When the pressure is really on, he reverts to type. Poking Vilanova in the eye, humiliating the team physio, claiming referee conspiracies etc. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to warm to him as you do with some players, along the lines of "well he might be a c**t, but at least he's our c**t".

However, it will no doubt be entertaining when he arrives and given the choices we have at the moment, i.e. another 12 month borefest under LVG or throwing the dice with Giggs he is the only viable option.
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Sums up my Jose feelings too

On LVG staying another year, I can live with this too though. I honestly think since the youngsters have come through we have easier to watch and I can only see that improving next year.

Giggs is certainly a roll of the dice but I would love to see how it turns out
 
JohnnyKills said:
I wouldn't say I think it's a great idea, but my biggest fear is Giggs taking over, not another year of LVG. If we've already agreed terms with another serious manager for 2017, I can stomach LVG's football for another year.

A lot of people, me included, have criticised the board for lacking the balls to dismiss LVG, but actually it would take a lot of guts for the owners to stick with him. He's cost them a fortune in transfer fees and his results have actually cost them money with the falling attendances and lost CL revenue. If they stick with him, there must be a good reason, even though none of us can see it.

Perhaps they (and Mourinho) feel it would be unwise for Mou to join at the same time as Guardiola, as the pressure would be enormous. Maybe they want to give LVG another year to develop the young players before passing them on, fully formed, to the new manager. Mourinho doesn't have many options at the moment and it's unlikely he'll have more options in a year's time - Barca will still hate him, PSG will still be in a pointless league, RM and Chelsea will still be off limits and Klopp will still be at Liverpool.

Anyway, as long as the long-term appointee isn't Giggs I can live with it.
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I would find it very, very difficult to feel motivated going into next season if Van Gaal was still with us, but obviously we have no control over these things and in practice I would carry on much as I am now - meaning I would watch our games but with very little confidence or excitement going into them. But you touched on the interesting point there: what I would want is an explanation, some sense of what Woodward's thinking is. I think that would make it more tolerable. Its daft in a way because actually it doesnt make any real difference one way or the other, but somehow I think it would be easier to accept.

There are obviously a number of possible reasons: lack of credible alternatives / not wanting Mourinho at the club; belief in Van Gaal's "process" - that he will come good; genuine belief in Manchester United exceptionalism, and a desire to "stick by our managers"; determination to give the job to Giggs, and wanting to give him one more year to prepare; the Glazers have used a proxy to bet their entire wealth on Man United coming below West Ham two years in a row... there must be others. None of these are reasons I would actually support, but just to understand would be some kind of relief.
 
Randall Flagg said:
Sums up my Jose feelings too

On LVG staying another year, I can live with this too though. I honestly think since the youngsters have come through we have easier to watch and I can only see that improving next year.

Giggs is certainly a roll of the dice but I would love to see how it turns out
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I'd rather have Giggs than another 12 months of Van Gaal. For me Mourinho is the obvious choice. Almost anything is preferable to sticking with Van Gaal though. I just can't see how the board can justify giving him more time. If he thinks we expect too much to compete for the title, Van Gaal will never be the right man for this club.
 
Adebesi said:
I would find it very, very difficult to feel motivated going into next season if Van Gaal was still with us, but obviously we have no control over these things and in practice I would carry on much as I am now - meaning I would watch our games but with very little confidence or excitement going into them. But you touched on the interesting point there: what I would want is an explanation, some sense of what Woodward's thinking is. I think that would make it more tolerable. Its daft in a way because actually it doesnt make any real difference one way or the other, but somehow I think it would be easier to accept.

There are obviously a number of possible reasons: lack of credible alternatives / not wanting Mourinho at the club; belief in Van Gaal's "process" - that he will come good; genuine belief in Manchester United exceptionalism, and a desire to "stick by our managers"; determination to give the job to Giggs, and wanting to give him one more year to prepare; the Glazers have used a proxy to bet their entire wealth on Man United coming below West Ham two years in a row... there must be others. None of these are reasons I would actually support, but just to understand would be some kind of relief.
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Any of those reasons will make me think the board and club have completely lost the plot...maybe it's better to not know
 
Irrational. said:
Over 12,000 posts later, and we are still no closer to knowing what the feck is going to happen next season. :lol:
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It's bizarre that such a world class manager is more than willing to come to us while we're in 5th place in the league having been knocked out of the Champions League group stages, and yet we are looking down our noses whilst umming and arring about whether to hire him. Have we no idea of what opportunism is? Ordinarily we would be fighting off about 50 other clubs for him ffs.

Pretty predictable that if we indeed decide that we are too good for him, all that will happen is that he will go to PSG or Real Madrid and absolutely annihilate LVG/Giggs whenever we come into direct competition (should we even be fortunate enough to).
 
Shark said:
Surely just finishing in the Champions League should have been the minimum expectation.
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The point is that they (probably) won't have to pay compensation because there is (most likely) a clause in his contract allowing for his dismissal if he fails to reach the Champions' League. I think LVG is on about £7 million a year, which isn't nothing.

There's also the importance of having criteria for failure (as opposed oo success) and sticking to them.
 
Orc said:
I wonder if people will complain if, when you play super attacking teams like Pep's City, Spurs, Liverpool and others in Europe, José plays pragmatic, defensive, counter attacking football.
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That is another thing that irritates me about him. He goes into big games with the sole intention of not losing. Thus turning them into dour games, especially away from home.
 
m1y2 said:
if it's between Mourinho and Van Gaal with a view to get Pochettino the season after. I'm with you, Mourinho would kill everything MUFC is build around, too many pathetic fans on internet forums thinking he would bring success to the team in big transition, he always worked with the best squad something he will struggle to build here. He's far from the best option and too similar to Van Gaal, he's complete opposite to safest option. Massive twat and Chelsea legend, and people wnat him as our manager after he left the squad mentally drained on 13th place in the league. I understand poeple are desperate to get rid of LVG, I am as well but Id rather LVG to remain or Warren Joyce than another arrogant prick. Clear desperation from most of the United fans. sad
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Ludicrous post, Pochettino has just agreed a new long term contract with Spurs. You are completely deluded if you think he will be here for the beginning of the 2017 season. Why would he leave Spurs at the moment, they have a fantastic young squad, champions league football and there future is looking bright. Man United face possibly the biggest decision in recent years. Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City will drastically improve either through a new manager or recruitment. We are simply going to be left behind and fall further if we continue with Van Gaal, the league is going to get harder next year and look where we are now. If you were a young attacking footballer would you want to play under Van Gaal, especially with no champions league(which is very likely now).

You say too many pathetic fans on internet forums, thinking he would bring success to the team in big transition. That's a pessimistic view, we have a core of good players in the squad. De Gea, Shaw, Smalling, Schneiderlin, Martial and Rashford. We also have promising players in CBJ, Mensah and Darmian. Mourihno could attract 4 top players to the club easy in the summer without Champions league football. Mourihno is a winner and we need to get back to competing again. We are not going going to it under Van Gaal for another year. You can go about Mourihno being a twat, Chelsea legend and leaving them 13th all you want but he's a winner. He knows how to win this league, he's won Champions leagues and trebles with our clubs. It's not desperation from fans, they are sick of watching shit football and getting turned over by dirt like Norwich at Old Trafford. They want change and passion on the pitch and Mourihno will given them that. He is safest option, by the looks of it the only option at the moment.
 
MEN reckon he could be announced two weeks from monday.
They also say, the offer of 2017 was made long long time ago
Now they want to hire him for next season. Mou is very keen on begining the job.
 
Maradona10 said:
MEN reckon he could be announced two weeks from monday.
They also say, the offer of 2017 was made long long time ago
Now they want to hire him for next season. Mou is very keen on begining the job.
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Castles and the Sun say it was made two weeks ago. I have to ask how the MEN know so much abot the offer but waited till it was reported elsewhere to start talking?
 
Maradona10 said:
MEN reckon he could be announced two weeks from monday.
They also say, the offer of 2017 was made long long time ago
Now they want to hire him for next season. Mou is very keen on begining the job.
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That would be the 23rd which is couple of days after the FA Cup Final which makes sense to me.
 
Adisa said:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-manager-ever.411422/
Funny looking at this thread. It's like all the things people are saying in this thread are being airbrushed from history.
I'm not saying the club shouldn't hire him all I'm saying is the people who don't want him should not be looked at as clowns and you can understand the club's perspective if they decide they don't want him.
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Of course they're not clowns; but, it should be remembered, neither are they prophets with a greater knowledge of football than those who want Mourinho (or another manager).
 
Adisa said:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/jose-mourinho-manchester-united-manager-ever.411422/
Funny looking at this thread. It's like all the things people are saying in this thread are being airbrushed from history.
I'm not saying the club shouldn't hire him all I'm saying is the people who don't want him should not be looked at as clowns and you can understand the club's perspective if they decide they don't want him.
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Ive skimmed that thread but to be honest I dont see much in there that is being airbrushed out now. People still recognise his flaws, its just we seem to have run out of options. Seems to me the facts have changed and people have revised their opinions as a result of our changed circumstances.

But as I said, I havent read it carefully. Can you give any examples of what you mean?

I agree with your final point BTW: people shouldnt be looked on as clowns for not wanting him, it is a fair enough opinion to have. Id be interested to know who those who dont want him DO want - of the realistic candidates, that is, not Pochettino or anyone else happily under contract at another club with better immediate prospects than us. Its a choice between Giggs and Van Gaal, as far as I can see. Again, I wouldnt call anyone who prefers either of those options a clown, I would just disagree with them.
 
Adisa said:
Castles and the Sun say it was made two weeks ago. I have to ask how the MEN know so much abot the offer but waited till it was reported elsewhere to start talking?
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May be they dint report it as it was rebuffed. I wouldnt believe castles at all, he is the pet of Jorge mendes. He may be telling the truth about the offer, but iffer might have been long time ago. The sun only has one journalist who has little credibility(He is in the good books of woodward) neil custis, who is usually ridiculed here. I dont think any other journo from sun should even be considered a journo
 
Is that a flaw? His time struggling with Chelsea is as relevant as his time winning the league with Inter. I guess it shows that any thread is flawed - or any thread must be viewed in the context of the time in which it was posted.
 
Shark said:
This thread is becoming a real pain in the arse. I just can't help the feeling that the club is still waiting to see how the season ends, which is why we haven't done a Man City and announce the deal already if it's happening. LVG isn't some nice guy that deserves some kind of respect, he should be told that he hasn't done a good enough job, instead he's being mollycoddled.
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Why isn't he a nice guy? I find him very amusing & straight talking. As far as we know he offered to resign earlier in the season & the club decided to endure the terrible form we were in. Certainly some respect is due to him, for carrying on in such difficult circumstances.

As Jose isn't going to take over until the summer & Giggs doesn't want to be caretaker. Plus we also have an FA cup final to play in, as well as an outside shot at 4th place. The club are now rightfully maintaining what they have & I fully expect a mutual agreement over him leaving at the end of the season. Sacking him now makes no sense. Should have happened months ago. Fans need to try & enjoy the run in & cup final. Then come the end of the season, no one renews their season tickets until the axe falls :devil:
 
Enigma_87 said:
1. Not sacking LvG in the winter when we still got a chance for top 4. Now it's a bit of an outside shot. A year without CL - you can calculate the losses yourself.
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No club (other than Madrid maybe) will sack a manager because of a poor month though. We were second in the table around end of November and results were fully in our control. We had injuries that month too and had to give starts to varela and all. The management decided to give him some more time and he did improve us from that and now we at least have an outside chance of top 4. Not to mention there were no viable candidates. Only one being a mourinho just fresh off a failed stint (worse than us), so it's understandable to not putting immediately in charge of our club.
 
My guess the offer was made not too long ago, when there was renewed hope of top 4. I don't think it was made long ago. That period LVG looked dead and buried.
 
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SteveJ said:
That thread is somewhat flawed, as it was posted when Mourinho was really struggling with Chelsea. If it had been posted, say, when he'd won the treble with Inter, the responses would surely have been different.
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https://www.redcafe.net/threads/replacing-fergie-guardiola-vs-mourinho.365003/

January 2013, wins the poll with 51% to guardiolas 25%

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/hypothetical-question-mourinho-or-pep-as-united-manager.354246/
2012 another discussion about wanting Mourinho here

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/nex...ed-to-be-jose-mourinho-or-david-moyes.313181/
2010, a 38 page thread on Mourinho or Moyes to United. Seems like Twigginater was still calling Mourinho shit despite the treble win
 
endless_wheelies said:
Jose Mourinho refuses to wait another year for Manchester United as club staff expect Louis van Gaal to STAY this summer

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3575247/Jose-Mourinho-refuses-wait-year-Manchester-United-club-staff-expect-Louis-van-Gaal-STAY-summer.html
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Queue hysteria, however, its a complete nothing article. Of course they expect him to stay - they haven't heard anything from the club and he's got another year on his contract.
 
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