CITY Jose has no right to lecture City on class
UNITED MANAGER IS PAST MASTER AT DEFLECTING HIS OWN SHORTCOMINGS
JOSE Mourinho handing out lessons in class.
Whatever next? Katie Hopkins lecturing us on compassion? Zlatan Ibrahimovic on humility?
You have to give the United manager one thing – he is the absolute master of diversion.
With his team on the brink of a Brighton meltdown, with his relationship with star player Paul Pogba under uncomfortable levels of scrutiny, and with him seemingly at odds with his cautious board, the Portugeezer has lashed out.
And it turns out that everything is the fault of Manchester City.
He claims that the Blues, for all their wealth, cannot buy class.
Somewhat ironic from a manager who has been whingeing incessantly about the fact that his club has NOT been buying class.
It is difficult to comprehend what Mourinho was moaning about when he pointed an accusing finger at the Blues, over the new Amazon Prime documentary All Or Nothing.
He seems to be unhappy that he, and United, get a few mentions.
What does he expect, in a fly-onthe-wall documentary which scrutinises how City have affected a transformation from music hall joke to masters of Manchester and England?
To talk about City’s rise in the last ten years, and not mention United, would be bizarre and neglectful, and to discuss Kevin de Bruyne without examining what went wrong for him at Chelsea, would also leave a gap.
Jose also ignores the fact that both the film-makers, and City, insist that the club had no control over final content.
Blues players and officials rolled up at last week’s initial screening unsure what to expect, and slightly nervous about what they would see.
Mourinho claimed in his rant that City had T-shirts in the tunnel at the April derby proclaiming they had won the league on derby day.
City sources strenuously deny that, and there is no evidence being proffered to back up Mourinho’s claim.
Maybe it is a fantasy based on rumour, in the same way that Mourinho claimed Petr Cech had to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance – when the Reading ambulance service proved it had responded within seven.
Mourinho does not let the truth get in the way of a rant, especially when it deflects from his own shortcomings.
It is also deeply ironic that a jibe about class comes from a manager embroiled in the Eva Carneiro affair at Chelsea, called a respected fellow manager a ‘specialist in failure,’ and slyly jabbed his finger into the eye of a Barcelona coach. Classy.
He is also manager of a club that, for years, sanctioned a banner at the Stretford End recording the number of years City had gone without a trophy.
In the end, it was only torn down by Roberto Mancini’s team winning the FA Cup, forcing United fans to dispose of it.
That was about as disrespectful as it gets.
The contrast in current fortunes between the two Manchester clubs was laid bare at the weekend.
City played with stunning class on the field and the players showed they have it away from the pitch as well, by making David Silva and his baby – attending a match for the first time – central to their celebrations.
It is a happy camp, manager and players pulling in the same direction, treating each other and opposition clubs with respect.
The difference could not be greater from the whining, backbiting and snarling noises from the other side of town, as Mourinho’s meltdown continues apace.