UNWANTED CHAPTER

HERE’S THE INSIDE STORY OF JOSE MOURINHO’S MANCHESTER UNITED SACKING AND WHY IT WAS INEVITABLE FROM THE VERY START

It was the pathetic display against Liverpool that ultimately persuaded Manchester United to get rid of Jose Mourinho, with the club hierarchy first concretely discussing the decision at the start of last week, but the main surprise is that they were so proactive.

That 3-1 defeat on Sunday, Dec.16 was only a repetition of so much that had been seen over the attritional and tedious two and a half years the Portuguese was in the job, but more pronounced, and a distillation of all the problems — most of all how they played such small-team football against a lesser-resourced club that had streaked so far ahead.

United had been left behind, but the feeling even as late as Monday night was they would not take the step required; that the situation would persist until Champions League qualification was mathematically impossible.

Some, however, began to note how he conspicuously didn’t appear at a Youth Cup game against Chelsea that evening, when so many senior club figures were there. He was not seen anywhere at United. The club had enough.

Many were fed up of so many negatives, and he had few supporters. The reality, however, is that those negatives were the inevitable outcome when they appointed Mourinho.

No one can say they weren’t warned. Mourinho’s reign has been a massive waste of everyone’s time,