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Man United eat humble pie as they get Mourinho

When Manchester United first embarked on life after Alex Ferguson, they still believed they could pick a promising young manager from an upwardly mobile club and turn him into the sort of man who looked like he belonged in charge of the biggest beast in English football.

Jose Mourinho. Photo: Getty Images

Jose Mourinho. Photo: Getty Images

When Manchester United first embarked on life after Alex Ferguson, they still believed they could pick a promising young manager from an upwardly mobile club and turn him into the sort of man who looked like he belonged in charge of the biggest beast in English football.

It was a commendable notion that, in the white heat of modern football, United could transform the decent, hard-working David Moyes of Everton as they did that young Ferguson from Aberdeen, but, in retrospect, it is hard to believe we bought it.

Three years on, and two managers down, United have finally accepted that there is no point trying to restage the history of the 1980s and 1990s and that a super club needs a super coach.

As a consequence, they have made their premium investment — a three-year contract worth S$20 million, with an option to stay until at least 2020 — in Jose Mourinho, the loudest, most outrageous, most controversial millennial modern football success story of them all. At a club that has always considered itself to be grand of scale, this is recognition that the demands of the job rule out all but a tiny core of high-achievers with the stature and the bloody-mindedness to deal with life at United in 2016.

It is, after all, a long walk from the tunnel at the corner of the south and west stands to the seat reserved for the manager of United, and there are those who might look up at the thousands around them, or think of the millions more watching on television, and wonder whether they are up to it.

Mourinho, one imagines, would be more likely to wonder whether United deserve him.

On the other side of the line, the supporters will see in Mourinho a man who has been here before, who has won at this stadium, who has parked the bus at this stadium, who had the bravado to turn up once and pick a team with no recognised strikers, or, on his first visit, had the front to slide on the turf in celebration while Ferguson silently seethed.

In this era of unparalleled wealth, when the margins between clubs are fine and the transfer budget is unlimited, half the trick is to ensure that the man in charge has the reputation and the status to do the job.

Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte have it. Of the older generation so too do Arsene Wenger and now Claudio Ranieri. Louis van Gaal had it no longer.

In Mourinho, United have one from that small elite who does have it.

When the greatest manager in a club’s history has also proven to be at times capable of being its biggest tyrant, it pays to ensure that the next man you ask to do the job is the same. Mourinho fits perfectly the requirement set out by one individual at the club who said the biggest failing in the Ferguson succession was not recognising that “if you lose a bastard, you have to make sure you get a bastard to replace him”.

That was always the prerequisite to be a great United manager, and Mourinho has the belligerence that characterises Ferguson’s approach to empire-building. Like Ferguson, Mourinho will also expect that the rest of the club falls in line behind him, and it will be interesting to see how parts of United behave under their new leader, after three years of sweet freedom.

Such was Ferguson’s distaste for social media that, until he retired, United did not, for instance, pursue a significant Twitter presence. The club’s in-house television station MUTV has, over the past three years, operated like a small republic emerging from under the yoke of a long dictatorship, permitting their cast of on-message ex-players to at last indulge in reasonable, even-handed criticism of the team. Sadly for them, democracy is cancelled, and the censorship office has reopened.

When Ferguson left, United anticipated that they had inherited the machine that could run English football for another 20 years. For a generation, he had kept them ahead of the game and they could not imagine a time when his successors would not succeed by sheer virtue of being manager of United. Within three years, they have fallen back on the same strategy as many other big European clubs of recent years in need of success: That is, hire Mourinho.

Three years ago, United considered themselves big enough to be able to turn down Mourinho. Now, with the club out the Champions League and miles off the title race pace, the current Old Trafford hierarchy probably cannot conceive of a scenario in which they would not hire him.

Finally Mourinho has the biggest job in English football and he assumes control in a position of greater power than he would have enjoyed if Ferguson had handed over to him directly. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Jose Mourinho’s to-do list at United:

1. What to do with Rooney

Mourinho twice tried to sign Wayne Rooney when he was Chelsea manager, and now he has his man. But where does he play him? The England captain’s days as a main striker appear to be behind him, so will Mourinho start him as a No. 10 or as a central midfielder? Mourinho may even want more power and pace in those positions, which would leave Rooney’s future uncertain. Mourinho’s arrival could also impact heavily on Juan Mata, who he sold at Chelsea in 2014. United’s one-paced central midfield containing Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Michael Carrick may need revamping.

2. Youth development

Even Mourinho’s fiercest supporters will concede that bringing through youth players has never been his priority at the clubs he has managed. However, that policy has long been regarded as a must at United and youngsters like Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Timothy Fosu-Mensah have not looked out of place in United’s first team this season. Will Mourinho look beyond the short term?

3. Football style

In Mourinho, the club isn’t exactly getting a coach who preaches beautiful soccer. He is pragmatic and is a win-at-all-costs type of manager who has been known to “park the bus,” but some of his teams have entertained over the years. His Chelsea teams that won the Premier League were devastating attacking forces at times, and Real Madrid’s league-winning team of 2011-12 under Mourinho scored 121 goals.

4. Europa League

“I don’t want to win the Europa League,’’ Mourinho once said. So at United, it will be interesting to see if he takes seriously a competition that can play havoc with a team’s domestic schedule. The Europa League offers a direct route to the Champions League for the winner, but a Thursday-Sunday schedule has proved difficult for English teams over the years. And Mourinho believes his true home is in the Champions League, which he has won with FC Porto and Inter Milan. Expect him to play his reserves in Europe next season.

About the author:

Sam Wallace is the Daily Telegraph’s chief football writer

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