PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE
Lineker: Jose doomed after voicing criticism outside dressing room
GARY LINEKER believes Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s biggest achievement has been to rebuild the spirit of the Manchester United dressing room – and revealed his “pet hate” about Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho fell out with his players amid constant public criticism of performances. It became a feature during the slump in results which led to him being sacked.
Lineker reckons his demise was inevitable from the moment he started showing up his squad outside the confines of the dressing room.
The BT Sport presenter said: “You look at the whole side and the world has left their shoulders. It was like carrying a weight and it was dragging everyone down. The manager was being a bit negative towards them in the press.
“That’s one of my pet hates. I think a manager is there to protect his players, support his players publicly, say what you like in dressing rooms and privately.
“Managers do scream and shout, have a go at players and we’ve all had a good rollicking. But that’s different to doing it publicly.
“I don’t think there’s that many who do it. Not like he was doing it at Man United, he just didn’t seem like the right fit and then was kind of blaming the world.
“You will never get players to perform for you for when that happens. So you have to be really careful as a manager. You can say, ‘Oh, the team had an off day today, blah, blah’. But when you start making little comments about individuals and players...
“You could see that old lost dressing room thing. No player goes out there and doesn’t try, it doesn’t work like that, but it’s those tiny percentages in sport.
“If there’s little belief, if you’ve been dragged down, if you’ve lost a little confidence, if that becomes a lot of players and not just one or two, then that becomes what they mean by losing the dressing room. That’s pretty much what happened.”
Lineker also thinks the interim boss is giving the “best possible audition” to get the job full time and will take a huge step towards that if he sees off Paris Saint-germain in the Champions League.
Solskjaer took charge in December and has nine wins and a draw from his 10 games as caretaker ahead of today’s trip to Fulham.
Lineker said: “I’d say he’s probably favourite. If he can get through this round against PSG then the odds will decrease for sure.
“From what I understand, he was going to be one of a handful to be considered, but he’s in the driving seat and in the best place to give the best possible audition. His audition at the moment is as good as you could possibly give.
“His managerial career has not been incredible so far, but sometimes a manager needs an opportunity at a place where he’s got a real chance – and he’s certainly got that here.’’
“That’s one of my pet hates. I think a manager is there to protect his players, support his players publicly, say what you like in dressing rooms and privately. Managers do scream and shout, have a go at players and we’ve all had a good rollicking. But that’s a different thing to doing it publicly”