‘Ole presses the right buttons’
Former Man Utd manager Mourinho’s latest deal sees him avoid jail time
MANCHESTER United will have an easy managerial decision on their hands if caretaker boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keeps building on his splendid start at Old Trafford, former England manager Steve McClaren has said.
Having replaced Jose Mourinho in December, Solskjaer has collected seven wins and a draw in the Premier League to guide a rejuvenated United to within two points of the top four.
United will appoint a new permanent manager at the end of the season and McClaren, who coached Solskjaer during United’s treble-winning campaign as Alex Ferguson’s assistant in 1999, said the Norwegian has exceeded expectations under pressure.
“I think everyone was astonished at the appointment,” McClaren, who is currently in charge of Queens Park Rangers, told Sky Sports.
“(But) I know Ole well. He’s a thinker and he’s intelligent.
“They’ve played exciting, attacking, Manchester United old traditional football. And if it continues to work, I think Manchester United will have an easy decision to make at the end of the season.”
After starting with a relatively comfortable run of fixtures, Solskjaer’s United showed tactical maturity in away wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, as well as an FA Cup fourth round win away at Arsenal.
Solskjaer’s former team mate Jordi Cruyff said the former Cardiff manager has revived United by “unblocking the minds of the players”.
“His work has been more mental, talking to the players and pressing the right buttons to get the best out of them,” Cruyff told the BBC.
“The quality is there. They are good players. From the outside, he has touched their minds and put an arm around their shoulder.
“They really needed someone to stabilise things and give positive messages, outside and inside the club.”
Meanwhile, former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has accepted a one-year prison sentence for defrauding the Spanish state of
3.3 million euros ($3.77 million), a Spanish court filing showed yesterday, although the Portuguese will not serve any jail time.
The filing said the tax ministry and Mourinho’s defence team had agreed to exchange the 12-month prison sentence with a daily fine of 250 euros for 24 months, equivalent to 182,500 euros, as under Spanish law jail terms under two years can be served under probation.
The court filing said Mourinho leased his image rights to companies based in the British Virgin Islands and Ireland in 2004 but left those earnings out of his tax returns from 2011 and 2012, when he was coach of Real Madrid and a fiscal resident in Spain, “with the aim of obtaining illicit profits”.
As well as the one-year prison sentence, Mourinho has been fined 1.9 million euros, 60 percent of the amount defrauded, as well as 121,764 euros in interest.
The 56-year-old and his representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mourinho was sacked in December by Manchester United after the club, who won the last of their record 20 top flight league titles in 2013, endured their worst start to a season for 28 years.
| Reuters