Mourinho: United stood still after Fergie left
JOSE Mourinho believes there was ‘no evolution’ at United in the years prior to his arrival.
Sir Alex Ferguson stunned the football world when he announced his retirement in 2013 and bowed out with the 13th Premier League title of his career.
The wily Scot handpicked David Moyes as his successor, but his compatriot was out of a job within 11 months after United failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 1995.
Moyes’ replacement, Louis van Gaal, won the FA Cup in his last game in charge, but failed to turn his side into serious title contenders in two seasons in charge. And, having won three trophies in his first season at the club, Mourinho feels United have finally made a leap forward after three indifferent seasons.
Speaking on the eve of United’s Champions League return, he said: “There was an evolution in the other clubs. There was no evolution in this club. In all the areas that make a team successful I think we stopped in time.
“When I say ‘the club’, I say the football team and what surrounds the football team was in trouble, big trouble. Not the club at all. Because the club is much more than results — it’s the fan base. It’s the passion around the world, it’s the business, it’s the commercial, it’s the merchandising.
“And a club like Manchester United as a club can be one, two, three, four, five, 10 years without winning. Manchester United will always be Manchester United and as a club will never be in trouble.
“The football team I think clearly there was an evolution in other clubs, and that was quite an empty period in this club with no evolution in areas that are important for the football team.
“And that was the first step – to try to bring the football team in the right direction.” UNITED’S glorious Champions League campaign of 1998-99 began 19 years ago this week with an epic opener against Barcelona at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s Reds drew 3-3 with the Spanish giants having made the group stages via a qualifier against Polish side LKS Lodz.
The Barca thriller was the start of an exhilarating never-to-be-forgotten ride to the final in the Nou Camp against Bayern Munich the following May.
United’s European stock was rising and reached a high in Barcelona that humid evening. The Reds had become a superpower on the Continent.
There were some dips in status to come, but their position in the elite was further cemented in 2008 in Moscow when they became European Champions again for the third time in the club’s history.
Two more finals in 2009 and 2011 firmly established them among the select.
But it has been a gradual slip down the rankings since. Group eliminations, barren campaigns with the Champions League and Europa League combat instead. Now, United have to re-establish themselves at the top table.
The learning curve is back at a low point, as low as in 1994 when Barcelona swept aside a depleted United double-winning Dream Team hampered by the foreigner rule, or the point in 1996 when Fergie’s fledgling Euro side were taken apart in Turin by Juventus.
It was only 1-0 in Italy in that group match, but the tight scoreline didn’t tell the full story.
United had to learn, learn quickly, grow up and grow up fast.
They did, reaching the semi-final in that 1996-97 season, a quarter-final 12 months later and then the pinnacle in 1999.
Jose Mourinho’s United are arguably coming from a more solid base than Ferguson’s Reds did over two decades ago.
The Europa League final triumph in Stockholm last May against Ajax is an excellent base from which the current United squad can grow.
Only Michael Carrick and Juan Mata have won the big trophy. Antonio Valencia and Chris Smalling have been to a final with United, while Paul Pogba experienced one with Juventus. The rest are largely Champions League novices. But with a European triumph from last season on their CV, the bulk of the squad now have to prove they can take the next step. It was a marathon journey to the Europa League final last season and while Mourinho argued at the time the names in the group – like Fenerbahce and Feyenoord – was like a Champions League group, it was far from it. Those two – plus Zorya Luhansk, in the group and later Saint Etienne, Anderlecht, Celta Vigo and Ajax – does not equate to the quality United will meet in the knockout stages of the Champions League if they can overhaul Basel, CSKA Moscow and Benfica. They have upgraded their ambitions at Old Trafford and will need to upgrade their game. Nobody will know that better than Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese has won the