Man United need a complete ‘reset’ more than they need Mourinho
Beleaguered manager doesn’t fit in with United’s new plan to recruit director of football,
MANCHESTER UNITED would like a director of football or sporting director, call it what you will. The club are acutely aware of the need for someone to fulfil the role and have been planning for it, considering what it will entail and how they can make it work for a long time. Now they need to act.
They are one of the biggest clubs in world football and it is anachronistic that they are so out of step with their rivals, especially considering the hundreds of millions they have invested in the transfer market with such little return.
The key question for United is this: do they have a manager in Jose Mourinho who would accept such a structure? And, it is understood, given some of the soundings they have made, would whoever they choose to hire want to work with him? That is the nub.
It is an issue that goes to the heart of United and where they are going and, by extension, to the heart of whether Mourinho should remain as manager. They stand accused, after the defeat away to Liverpool, of lacking direction, identity and, even, soul.
That may be a bit over the top, given that it is only the football operation which is, frankly, a mess, but that is a big “only”. The football should be the most important part, which opens up the accusations of where the priorities lie for the owners, the Glazer family, and the executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward. At the very least, what United certainly need, to borrow a word from Gary Neville, is a “reset”.
It is said that Mourinho is not against the director of football model in principle, and why should he be, considering he has worked under it in the past – although not so well at Chelsea. The problem is that he appears to want it to be his appointment, which is why the name of Luis Campos, a 54-yearold Portuguese who is the director of football at Lille, has been repeatedly floated.
Campos worked with Mourinho at Real Madrid, where he was a scout, and was also technical director at Monaco and is close to Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes.
There is nothing unusual in that but, not least in terms of good management, it is not right that a manager and a sporting director should have such a relationship and also be linked through an agent. United will be aware of the link.
So, United appear to have reached an impasse on what will be one of the most important appointments in the club’s recent history. It appears set to be delayed – and delayed until when? There is an obvious conclusion.
Meanwhile, United reject suggestions that they are outdated and point, for example, to the fact that they are to beat a host of European clubs to the signing of Noam Emeran, the 16-yearold French wonderkid, from Amiens.
The scouting systems at United have been updated and overhauled, while it is an ongoing process at the academy. There is a lot of work still to do, but to suggest that they are behind the times in every aspect is harsh.
There is an obvious conclusion to be drawn from this issue, which appears to sum up the malaise at United: Mourinho will have to go if the club are to modernise because he is not the kind of manager to fit into the changes that are needed.
United require someone to oversee recruitment and to look after the longterm direction of the football side of the club – from first-team contracts to signings, through to the appointment of a manager and down to scouting and youth development.
There is mitigation in that it was always going to be difficult to have all this in place when United had Alex Ferguson as manager, given his unique success and the breadth of his