League or the dole
superstars, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Compare United’s current squad to the one Moyes inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson or the injury-ravaged group that Van Gaal had for much of last season.
If Mourinho can’t get these players into the Champions League, and at least challenging for the Premier League crown, his label as a serial winner will need serious revision.
Last season he lost his veneer of invincibility over four meltdown months. The question is whether that was a blip, or a deeper malaise.
Roman Abramovich always sacks his managers when Champions League participation is threatened.
He did it first time round with Mourinho and with Luis Felipe Scolari, Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto di Matteo.
In all those cases, the caretaker turned it around. Last year Chelsea were so far adrift when Mourinho left that the Russian wrote off the season and waited for Antonio Conte to become available.
But make no mistake, the Italian will have the same briefing as every other boss Abramovich has employed.
Conte arrived with a reputation for discipline. In charge of his country at the Euros, he gave everyone a glimpse of his passion with his instruction-screaming, ball-kicking, dug-out-climbing antics.
But Chelsea fans should be wary of rushing to judgement. Remember that United fans were gushing about Van Gaal’s genius when they watched their boss-tobe at the World Cup in Brazil.
Manchester City had pursued Pep Guardiola ever since his old Barcelona mates, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, started running the club.
The announcement last January that he would be taking over from Manuel Pellegrini proved a distraction. Yet the Chilean still won the League Cup, reached the semifinals of the Champions League and secured his top-four finish.
Guardiola is meant to be an upgrade on Pellegrini. So that level of success would be failure.
The Board can’t afford that, hence City becoming the first Premier League club to take their summer spending past £100m.
This is the first real test of Guardiola’s reputation as the world’s best coach.
At Barcelona, he won two Champions Leagues and three La Ligas. But he was able to call on Lionel Messi every week.
At Munich, he won three Bundesliga titles and two cups but Bayern’s financial power means they can buy domestic trophies.
City have a lot of cash too, but not significantly more than their rivals. And they don’t have Messi.
Most pundits believe the bigname manager most likely to be squeezed out of the top four, and with it a lucrative Champions League place, is Arsene Wenger.
Mind you, we say that every year, and for 20 seasons on the trot he’s fulfilled his annual remit.
As usual, the Frenchman has been slow to spend and has been muttering darkly about the ridiculous size of fees swilling around.
The law of averages says he’ll miss the cut one year, and it would be ironic if it happens this season when his contract is due to expire.
It would be no surprise if this was Wenger’s last season at the Emirates.
Of more intrigue will be whether Mourinho, Guardiola or Conte will do enough during the campaign not to join him on the dole queue.