I WILL NOT BE SACKED
Struggling Mourinho is remaining defiant but the bookies disagree and make the United coach favourite to get the boot
JOSE MOURINHO insists his job is not under threat – but Manchester United will sack him if he fails to drag them out of their current slump.
Mourinho is odds on with the bookmakers to be axed by the end of the month, with the United boss needing a win and convincing display in tonight’s Champions League tie against Valencia at Old Trafford to ease the growing pressure on him.
The Reds’ executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward knows he cannot allow United’s worst start to a league season for
29 years to get any worse and is ready to take action if Mourinho fails to turn things around at the club. But asked if his job was on the line with tonight’s game and the Premier League match against Newcastle to come before the international break, Mourinho said: “No, I don’t think so.” Ex-Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane (above) is the favourite to take over, with the Reds 10th in the table – although No.2 Michael Carrick could be put in temporary charge. There is no appetite to dismiss Mourinho, but Woodward and the United board recognise morale within the squad is low. United’s abject 3-1 defeat at West Ham on Saturday confirmed a core of players have stopped performing for Mourinho, who was asked if they cared enough about his position to back him. He said: “I think some care more than others. I don’t believe a player is not honest. There were big players in the past and I asked them if, at any time in their careers, they went into a game not to give maximum, not to help the club, not to make the fans happy and not to try his best. “Until someone who was a big player says he was a dishonest player, I will always believe players.”