Okay, the money that Mourinho has spent is well-documented.
He blew a fortune bringing players to Old Trafford that he’s now crying about not being good enough.
Roy Keane made an interesting comment on Sunday, though, about how the signings Alex Ferguson made didn’t always turn out to be success stories. They were brought in, he said, turned out they weren’t good enough and they were moved on.
Mourinho, however, doesn’t seem to find any use for most of his signings outside of Matic and Lukaku and he’s still depending on a lot of Fergie signatures.
There’s also a point to be made, again, that it brings it all back to the stupidity of Ed Woodward and the board. They gave the manager a new contract last season, 18 months into the job – talk about jumping the gun – but, when they did that, they didn’t exactly give him all their backing.
So when Jose inevitably came looking to waste more money in the summer, they reined him in. Don’t hire Mourinho in the first place and expect him not to come looking for treasure chest after treasure chest. Don’t hire him if you’re not looking for short-term success. And don’t hire any manager – or give them a new contract 18 months into their first contract – if you’re not convinced that they’re the right person for the job.
If you hire a manager or seal his future at the club, you’re backing him. And you should trust that he is acting in the best interests of Manchester United and trust his judgement calls. If you don’t trust him to manager, get rid of him.
So, whilst Ed Woodward has given Mourinho far too much backing already – the guts of £400m, not to mention over £25m a year on Alexis Sanchez’s wages – he’s also been trying to mould him a little when Mourinho’s career has never shown a capacity to change.
Either you want Mourinho or you don’t and Manchester United certainly should not want him.
It’s not that he’ll continue to bang down the door demanding more money or that he’ll drive out of the club some of the most expensive players in the world, and he won’t play on the front foot or have any real attacking game plan other than transition, it’s not just all that. It’s that, when you give him money, he’ll make too many errors.
Jose Mourinho answers Paul Pogba question as he walks out of press conference
Mourinho was crying before this season started about the need for a centre half and the club’s refusal to back him on that front. Now, bearing in mind that he already spent nearly £80m on two centre backs, he then went and blew £50m on a midfielder in that same summer he was whinging about the despairing need for a defender.
United went out and got in Fred for £50m. He’s had little impact and, if Pogba can’t get in now ahead of Matic or Herrera or even Lingard, Fred is going to have some time of it trying to do so.
So that was just £50m thrown around just for the craic and, whilst Jose might tell you that they needed a midfielder too, they so clearly needed to strengthen defensively more so.
That’s something that Graeme Sounds was having none of on Sky Sports on Sunday when Roy Keane and Gary Neville were talking about Mourinho not being backed. He was backed. He just can’t have a player in every single position.
So then it’s up to the manager to prioritise.
"They spent £50m on Fred. Should that not have been spent on a defender? When you're a manager, you prioritise. No-one can go out and buy 10 new players."
Graeme Souness is on it pic.twitter.com/K7Hg29bUOD
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) December 17, 2018
It was another fascinating debate after the Liverpool-United game but, whilst Ed Woodward might deserve some stick, the thing he has been most guilty of is backing Jose Mourinho with too much money and a new contract when he should’ve just moved him on.
He should’ve been moved on like those players Roy Keane would tell you weren’t good enough for the club.
