JOSE’S NOT A BADDIE
PREMIERSHIP GEARING UP FOR BIG RETURN Mitchell stands by axed Old Trafford gaffer Mourinho
DEMETRI MITCHELL can’t bring himself to utter a bad word about former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho.
The Hearts left wing-back, currently on loan from Old Trafford, admits he owes his career to the Portuguese.
It was the Special One who handed Mitchell his United debut in a 2017 win over Crystal Palace.
And last summer he even managed to coax a rare bit of levity out of the usually sour-faced gaffer by belting out Drake hit “Hold On, We’re Going Home” as part of his first-team initiation, to Mourinho’s toe-tapping delight.
But despite leading United to League Cup and Europa League success, the manager was sacked last month with the club stating the 55 year-old was to blame for a catalogue of failures, including seeing no progress in results or style after he blew nearly £400million on 11 players.
Mitchell has been keeping close tabs on events at his parent club and revealed it’s a happy camp since the return of former Reds legend Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as caretaker gaffer.
But he insists he is not about to jump on any bandwagon and disrespect a man he still holds in the highest regard.
The 22 year-old said: “I have to pay respect to Jose. He gave me my United debut so he has been an important figure in my career. He took me on tour twice with the United first team and I learned a lot under his management.
“He’s a good person. He’s not always how you see him portrayed in the press. Behind closed doors, you get a totally different character.
“It’s all change at Old Trafford now and the boys are telling me they are enjoying it. Everyone has smiles on their faces and you can see that with the way they’re playing.
“You can see Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford playing fluidly and smiling. It’s all good when you are playing football with a smile on your face. Ole is doing a good job.
“I’m at Hearts and I’m trying to make an impact and show what I can do here as much as possible.
“There are people at United who look after the players who are out on loan. They give you constructive criticism on all games. They use Wyscout and I’m sure Hearts also send them the footage as well.”
While Mitchell is clearly desperate to edge his way back into the fold down south, he admits there has been some tough lessons to learn during his time in Scotland. He was slammed by Jambos boss Craig Levein last month for “sheer stupidity” when he picked up his first ever red card in the 2-0 defeat to Aberdeen – because he FORGOT that he’d already been booked. Mitchell – who has been at Hearts for 12 months in two loan spells – has since lost his place to Ben Garuccio after failing to appear in the wins over Hamilton and rivals Hibs. He said: “My sending off was stupid. It was the first red of my career and I’ve got to learn from it – I forgot I was on a yellow card! “As soon as I did it, I knew straight away. It happens and you’ve got to learn from it. You can’t dwell on it, you have to move forward.
“The manager didn’t say much to me. He knows I know and he’s right.
“It was stupid. When I was back in the dressing room, I just felt silly.
“I’m still enjoying being at Hearts. The whole ride has been a learning curve with ups and downs. When you have confidence then you’re loving it but it’s good to keep a level head.
“If things are going well, keep a level head and if they aren’t, don’t get too down. That’s what I’ve learned here.
“I was here last season and now there’s a whole different bunch of players. I came back in the summer and the attitude of the boys is good. They are really positive players.
“Last season I was a regular starter with no competition. Now I’m fighting for my place with Ben but it’s good to have competition.”
Mitchell believes the likes of Jermain Defoe signing for Rangers and Oliver Burke joining Celtic can only be a good thing for the Scottish game.
He said: “It gives the Premiership more coverage. It’s good to see.
“Hopefully more people will watch Scottish football now as it’s becoming a more credible league and attractive proposition for players down south.”
Hearts return to action this weekend against Livingston after a week’s training camp in Murcia.
The Gorgie men are still licking their wounds from the 5-0 caning they suffered at the Tony Macaroni Arena last month.
Mitchell said: “It was a bad result. We’ve picked up since then and learned from it.
“The Hibs game showed that we can dig deep and get results and hopefully we can do the same in the Scottish Cup match.”