MOURINHO IS IN NEED OF A FLYING START, SAYS DARREN

JOSE MOURINHO has been the master of an instant impact at his previous posts, which is just as well for the ambitions of Darren Fletcher’s former club.

The midfielder acknowledges Manchester United are still toiling to recover from the retirement of his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson and are in such a hurry to finally do so that two managers were sacked for coming up short of expectation.

United bailed out on David Moyes 10 months into a six-year deal and called time on Louis van Gaal two-thirds of the way through his project just hours after he led them to a first FA Cup since 2004.

Neither appointment of the Old Trafford board was allowed transition time to deliver a title challenge and that prompted the recruitment of former Chelsea manager Mourinho.

Fletcher believes that the Portuguese will, at the very least, need to show the club is back on track for a title run in the new season — and play the attractive football so missed under van Gaal’s regime.

He said: ‘I’ve never sensed any interference but, on the other hand, you must perform no matter if it’s a five-year plan or a 10-year plan.

‘If you don’t win, they want to see that it’s going somewhere. For the size of club, the fans and the money involved, you have to hit the ground running and perform straight away.

‘If not, you must show that you are going to do it the next season. Jose is an experienced manager, who has a proven track record of winning.

‘But you have to win a certain way at Manchester United, the fans demand a certain style of football. I think he’s intelligent enough to realise that. He does not need me to tell him that.

‘I think he’s seen how the fans have reacted this season. The biggest thing is the club is different. I’ve moved on from it but I wish them all the best.

‘It was always going to be a difficult transition after Sir Alex left. We probably realise now not only how much of an influence he had on the team, but the influence throughout the whole club.

‘He always maintained that the most important person at a club had to always be the manager. The mantra was that you had to have someone the players maybe not feared, but knew that his decisions are going to stand.

‘He almost ran the club from top to bottom. Not just the playing side of things. I felt like everything was in place in the infrastructure when he left for it to continue.

‘United were run perfectly from the medical side to sports science, to playing staff, to facilities at the training ground.

‘He left a title-winning team and it’s unfortunate that it’s been difficult since he left.

‘It wouldn’t be an easy job to replace him. The club probably didn’t realise how difficult it was going to be.’