Mourinho era dispelled

Uppermost on the minds of many Manchester United fans will be the thought that, whew, aren't we glad it's over. They will be thinking, of course, of the Jose Mourinho era, a dire passage for a very big football club.

In his two and a half seasons at Old Trafford, Mourinho managed to create an atmosphere so toxic, for the most part, that all news issuing from the red side of Manchester seemed ill tidings. That might sound unfair but isn't. All that the soi-disant 'Special One' could harvest were three titles, by his reckoning, that is.

The high point of the 2016-17 campaign was the blushes-saving Europa League win, which unlocked the gates to the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League. To it was added the League Cup, now called the Carabao Cup, and the season-opening Community Shield, played between the Premiership and FA Cup winners of the previous season. Most people do not count the last as a serious title, though.

The post-Alex Ferguson Premiership drought and the inability to challenge for the Champion's League were not what bothered United fans and the football-watching public as much as Mourinho's lack of ambition, which seemed to be signalling, worryingly, that United was content to no more be counted as one of the members of the European elite. After all, the principal reason for bringing Mourinho to Old Trafford had been precisely his ambition and ability to deliver silverware. No one but the most fondly optimistic was hoping that he would bring back to red Manchester the swagger with which United had played in Ferguson's glory days.

Mourinho's track record spoke for itself. Ever since winning his first European title, the Champion's League with unfancied Porto in the 2003-04, he had made a habit of effortlessly winning titles. He moved to Chelsea, and the big league, in 2004, winning the Premiership in his debut season. The following season saw him winning the double with Chelsea. Since then he has won a treble with Inter Milan, a La Liga with Real Madrid, and another Premiership with Chelsea, to which he returned in the 2013-14 season.

Manchester United Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward, under pressure after three barren seasons, was probably counting on Mourinho to deliver something big and something soon: Like the Premiership. He was surely not counting on the kind of expansive, attacking and attractive football so badly wanted by the fans, who would, however, be content, he must have reckoned, with serious silverware.

Not unexpectedly, Mourinho persevered with his park-the-bus style of football in which attacking verve was to be sacrificed for results. Unfortunately, the results failed to materialise. A Europa Cup and a League Cup, allied to a second-placed finish 19 points behind champions, and rivals unto death, Manchester City, was never going to cut it.

Then came the current season. Mourinho's sour pre-season tantrums were a kind of augury. He wanted another central defender really badly, despite having already bought Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelöf in previous seasons. His shopping list included Leicester City's Harry Maguire, Tottenham Hotspur's Toby Alderweireld and Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng. Woodward quite correctly refused to stump up for these overpriced and unreliable replacements.

Mourinho, predictably, went into a sulk, buying only three players, among them Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred for the not inconsiderable sum of £ 52 million. His gargantuan sulk, unfortunately, continued into the season. He hardly played Fred or Diogo Dalot, another addition to the squad. But what engaged maximal attention was Mourinho's war with Paul Pogba, brought to Old Trafford by Mourinho himself against a record transfer fee of around £ 89 million as the new talisman for the club.

Fans could have been forgiven for expecting that the underperforming Pogba, who had just delivered a stupendous performance for France in the World Cup, would finally come good. Instead, there was the very public and very unseemly falling-out between the manager and the talisman. In its wake, came a poison-gas attack mostly instigated by Mourinho, which destroyed the dressing room. The inevitable result was that Mourinho lost the loyalty of practically all the players and the sense of disenchantment, despondency and demoralisation that enveloped the squad showed in the results. United are 'enjoying' their worst start to a season since 1990 and, currently, sit at sixth place, already 19 points behind Premiership leaders Liverpool and 6 behind a Champions League spot.

So, who's responsible for the mess? Mourinho himself and Woodward without a doubt. Mourinho poisoned the atmosphere by criticising his own players in public, complaining all the time and transforming a successful defensive line-up into a shambles. Woodward is to blame for being completely detached from footballing affairs, directing his energies exclusively to making money and making all the wrong calls. As the executive head of the club he knew that Mourinho would not deliver what the club wanted: Attacking and attractive football.

The solution is the appointment of a footballing director. But for the present, it is devoutly to be hoped that the interim manager, one of Old Trafford's much-loved alumni, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, will bring back to the club some purposeful football.