Jose Mourinho’s programme notes suggest he’s sticking around

Jose Mourinho's time is coming to an end

That is certainly the case if speculation surrounding Mourinho's future is anything to be believed. According to various reports in the last 24 hours, the Portuguese coach could very well find himself out of a job regardless of what happens in Manchester United's clash with Newcastle on late Saturday afternoon. It would not be a surprise if Mourinho was sacked. Since he took over at Old Trafford his sides have failed to play attractive football in any consistent manner, and indeed have failed to even win games in any consistent manner. All in all it's been a disappointing spell, one which appears to have skipped his traditional successful second season and instead gone slowly but surely to his equally traditional third season policy of scorched earth. Despite this, despite the fallings out and arguments and rumours, Mourinho himself appears to believe that he will remain at Old Trafford for the foreseeable at least, if his programme notes for the Newcastle United game are anything to go by. In those notes Mourinho says: "After today's game we have two weeks, then we go straight into games against Chelsea and Juventus, with two recovery days in between." He then takes the slightly odd (in general, not for Jose) move of highlighting that Manchester United have the most points out of all the English clubs in this season's Champions League.

"For the moment, we have the most points of any English team in the Champions League," he said in a line which will no doubt inspire all who read it.

He then reiterated the importance of beating Newcastle, which probably wasn't something that necessarily needed to be said: "With such huge games coming up later in the month, it would obviously be good for our confidence to end this current run of fixtures with an important victory this afternoon at home. Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy the game." Whether any of the things mentioned in his notes ever actually come to pass remains to be seen, but even the most staunch anti-Mourinho acolytes out there will struggle to not begrudgingly respect him going out on his own, strange and stubborn terms. https://twitter.com/samuelluckhurst/status/1048566015544758273 https://twitter.com/samuelluckhurst/status/1048566159799472128 https://twitter.com/samuelluckhurst/status/1048566388179259392