COMMENT: How Mourinho and Man United must change to emerge better after this debacle

It just so happened that most of the top English Premier League (EPL) managers were available for comment on Tuesday (18 December), hours after the sacking of Jose Mourinho. To a person, they were unanimous in their support for the Portuguese – Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino all insisted that he remains a world-class manager.

Klopp, who masterminded Liverpool’s 3-1 dismantling of Mourinho’s Manchester United on Sunday, even said, “If Jose wants to have another job, he has it in two days.”

Nice try. These rival managers know that this current version of Mourinho, with his outdated tactics and man-management skills, can be easily out-thought and brushed aside.

Perhaps Mourinho should take a year off and go study how the modern managers like Guardiola and Klopp are running their clubs so successfully. He might also take a long hard look at how he conducted himself throughout his doomed United tenure, and hopefully come back a more humble, empathetic person.

Evolve, or aim lower

So much has already been written about Mourinho’s combative and abrasive managerial style, which rubbed everyone the wrong way at United, and created so much discord and discontent that it eventually led to the Red Devils’ worst start to an EPL season this year. Sixth in the table, 19 points off league leaders Liverpool, with a worse defensive record than Huddersfield, the same goal difference as Leicester and no more wins than Watford – it is a humiliating situation for a mighty club like Man United.

Humiliating too for Mourinho. It was only 14 years ago when he began one of the most glorious stretches of success of any manager – one Champions League title with Porto, two EPL wins with Chelsea, two Serie A titles and another Champions League win with Inter Milan, one La Liga title with Real Madrid, then back to Chelsea for one more EPL trophy.

Yet he must start from scratch now. He either needs to evolve, or find a smaller club to suit his style. Find a club without the heavy burden of tradition, and build a resilient squad of players who have not tasted any success or stardom.

That was what happened at Porto in 2004, when he led a team of complete unknowns to European triumph, arguably his greatest feat. That was also what happened in his first Chelsea stint, when he instantly landed two EPL triumphs for an underachieving club which had not won a domestic league title since 1955.

Those two clubs – and their players too – were hungry for success and recognition, and Mourinho was able to organise them expertly into tough-to-beat teams that strangled the life out of better opponents.

This is what he is a master of, not guiding star-studded squads to reclaim their glorious pasts. That is why his Real Madrid and Man United tenures ended so miserably – because star players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba always feel the need to express their talents, and not be restricted by Mourinho’s defensive, all-for-one-and-one-for-all tactics.

So unless he completely revamps his tactics, Mourinho should follow the footsteps of his one-time rival Rafael Benitez, and find a job at a struggling, underdog club like Benitez did at Newcastle. Crucially, he must ditch his “Special One” persona, and stop criticising his players in public, instead start imparting advice gleaned from his sizeable experience. To continue to bank on his “Special One” persona is to court further ridicule after this failed United stint.

That’s the crossroads that lies ahead for this fascinating football character. Mourinho has been a stunning rags-to-riches story – a mediocre footballer who found wild success in management through charisma and sheer bloody-mindedness. Does he have the wisdom and humility to reinvent himself? The footballing world awaits.

United must upgrade and evolve too

Manchester United, too, are at a crossroads. It has been five years since Alex Ferguson put an end to his extraordinary tenure that brought 13 EPL triumphs, five FA Cup wins and two Champions League trophies to the grateful Red Devils. Three disastrous managerial appointments and numerous poor player signings later, the club are in danger of losing their Midas touch as rival clubs have modernised successfully and overtaken them both on and off the pitch.

Many of their fans lay the blame on Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman who hired all three managers after Ferguson. While the former investment banker has maintained United’s financial muscle capably, he has failed miserably in supporting those three managers – David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and now Mourinho – with suitable player purchases.

In an ideal situation, fans would want Woodward to leave with Mourinho. Yet such is his value in terms of marketing know-how that it is unlikely the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, would contemplate such a scenario.

It is galling for these supporters, because United’s footballing problems are clear for all to see: A disjointed senior team, a declining youth academy and an outdated scouting system. These aspects were once the pride of United, and now they have fallen behind the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham, all of which have revamped and upgraded their backroom staff and support systems.

At least United have not made a hasty replacement for Mourinho, preferring to hire a caretaker manager until the end of the season to give themselves enough time to assess the next appointment. Former striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks set to assume that temporary role, and his key task is to get the first-team players back to playing an eye-catching, attacking style, in accordance with the traditional “United way”, a philosophy which Mourinho foolishly cast aside.

The next permanent manager will also need to revamp their talent-scouting department, and this means getting a director of football in place to oversee their player search. The youth academy must be improved and modernised too, in order to get the best out of their youngsters.

United can ill-afford another poor managerial appointment. They are in danger of becoming everything they once laughed at: spending too much money like Man City, talking about history like Liverpool, aiming for fourth place like Arsenal and changing managers like Chelsea.

Both the club and Mourinho must change from what they are now. The cutthroat world of top-tier football will show no mercy if they stay stagnant.

The author has covered both Singapore and international sports for the past 16 years, and was formerly sports editor of My Paper. The views expressed are his own.

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