Mourinho’s plan for United?

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Funny he always managed to fall out with his best players. Ronaldo at Real, Pogba and Martial at United and now Ndombele. Is that an ego problem? But then he worked well with people like Ozil, Sneidjer and especially Zlatan
Also Robben at Chelsea. I think he fell out with Ramos at Madrid too.

At one point Chelsea could have had a potential midfield of
De Bruyne Kante
Salah Hazard Robben
Obviously it's horribly unbalanced and probably wouldn't of worked and the timelines a bit off with Robben as he would've been a squad player by 17-18 time , but it's still 3 world class players he let go on the cheap.
 

roonster09

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Yes. It was after a game when Maguire played well (could have been the opener against Chelsea) he said something to the effect of "that's why I wanted him" and made a quip about United paying more than Leicester wanted the summer before when he was manager and was told he was too expensive.
This was the bit from pre match, he said he wanted physical CB and he wanted one. At least that's how I read it and understood it when I watched it last August. You also have to wonder why he signed Lindelof when he knew he was poor in air and he wanted physical defender.

After fellow pundit Roy Keane said United had no choice but to pay £80million for Maguire from Leicester in the summer, Mourinho nodded and said: "I agree.

"I was not an idiot when I was crying in the last pre-season for a central defender," added Mourinho.

"First of all, he has physical qualities. If Maguire does not come, then today you have (Victor) Lindelof and (Axel) Tuanzebe, or Lindelof and Phil Jones. It's a big difference."

Edit: Maybe he wanted him going by his post match comments.
Asked whether Maguire was the player he had been looking for before his Old Trafford reign crumbled, Mourinho chuckled and replied: "He arrived one year later!"
 

Sandikan

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It’s been well documented that Jose fell out with Ed over not getting the players he wanted & overruling him with player sales (Pogba & Martial)

So it gets me thinking, what was his plan for United had he completely got his way?

Fellaini & Lukaku would still be here. Don’t think he would have got rid of Smalling either. Lingard would probably still be starting. Shaw, Pogba & Martial would be gone. We know he wanted the likes of Sandro, Maguire & Perisic

Maybe something like

DDG
Young Smalling Maguire Sandro
Fellaini Matic
Willian Lingard Perisic
Lukaku​

Ive been critical of Ole as a tactician, but I’m so grateful that we have him over Jose for his transfer policy & man management alone.

Matic, Fellaini, Lingard 3 in the middle?! :lol:
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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This was the bit from pre match, he said he wanted physical CB and he wanted one. At least that's how I read it and understood it when I watched it last August. You also have to wonder why he signed Lindelof when he knew he was poor in air and he wanted physical defender.




Edit: Maybe he wanted him going by his post match comments.
I remember us being heavily linked with him after the Toby links died down. I remember the match thread on the caf during the Leicester game in the opener with a few people saying "watch Maguire get the equaliser in the last minute" when we were holding on to a 2-1 lead. Boateng was one that seemed to have nothing to it.

We were very very heavily linked with Toby all summer, then it switched to Maguire with about a week to go in the window. Obviously we ended up signing nobody.
 

roonster09

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I remember us being heavily linked with him after the Toby links died down. I remember the match thread on the caf during the Leicester game in the opener with a few people saying "watch Maguire get the equaliser in the last minute" when we were holding on to a 2-1 lead. Boateng was one that seemed to have nothing to it.
Boateng confirmed he rejected ManUtd move and spoke to Jose.


"I phoned Jose Mourinho and told him that his interest honoured me and thanked him that he put his back into United for me," Boateng said. "I explained to him my reasons for not joining.

"It's difficult to leave FC Bayern. Everything has to fall in place to top this club, if I do it."
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Matic, Fellaini, Lingard 3 in the middle?! :lol:
Maybe I was being a little facetious haha. Pogba would have gone if he got his way almost certainly. He seemed to really like Lingard and Matic, and we know how much he loved Fellaini. Maybe Milinkovic-Savic would have replaced Pogba and Fellaini would be his "plan B" still. IIRC Jose really liked McTominay too, so perhaps he'd be starting?

Boateng confirmed he rejected ManUtd move and spoke to Jose.
Ah fair enough. Seems like we were just desperate for any decent centre half we could find.
 

CM10

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If we had followed through with his 'plan' we'd have been left with a decrepit squad and probably have spent another £150m odd on players with a life cycle of 2-3 years at the club.

The reality wasn't too different but at least the club was responsible enough to stop him from selling Pogba and Martial, or driving someone like Rashford away. Getting rid of him was the best thing we've ever done.
 

AshRK

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Things were somewhat fine till that brutal sevilla game happened. Yes we have been knocked out in the past to inferior teams but the way it happened against Sevilla still pains me. It's like even if the game is a simple one , Jose will make sure to play like an underdog and that was unacceptable. And then the Sevilla PC which just confirmed the guy is a toxic one and not a special one. The fact that in that 11 minutes rant he never once questioned himself showed he was living in a delusion and he will never change his tactics.

His time was up and the fact Woodward gave him a contract extension shows how incompetent ed too is. Anyways no point obsessing with the past. At least there is some positivity right now.
 

freeurmind

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Things were somewhat fine till that brutal sevilla game happened. Yes we have been knockes out in the past to inferior teams but the way it happened against Sevilla still pains me. It's like even if the game is simple , Jose will make sure to play like a underdog and that was unacceptable. And then the Sevilla PC which just confirmed the guy is a toxic one and not a special one. The fact that in that 11 minutes rant he never once questioned himself showed he was living in a delusion and he will never change his tactics.

His time was up and the fact Woodward gave him a contract extension shows how incompetent ed too is. Anyways no point obsessing with the past. At least there is some positivity right now.
No excuse for leaving Pogba out for that game and then losing. Sackable offence.
 

YAMS49

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As far as I can tell his plan was to alienate our most creative player, humiliate our left back in public, tactically take us back to Porto 2004 & generally leave a dour taste on whatever/whoever he came in to contact with.

Mission accomplished.
 

Judge Red

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Mourinho was the reason we needed a director of football. Fortunately for the club that never found one, it doesn’t seem to be as important now.
 

Berbasbullet

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Things were somewhat fine till that brutal sevilla game happened. Yes we have been knocked out in the past to inferior teams but the way it happened against Sevilla still pains me. It's like even if the game is a simple one , Jose will make sure to play like an underdog and that was unacceptable. And then the Sevilla PC which just confirmed the guy is a toxic one and not a special one. The fact that in that 11 minutes rant he never once questioned himself showed he was living in a delusion and he will never change his tactics.

His time was up and the fact Woodward gave him a contract extension shows how incompetent ed too is. Anyways no point obsessing with the past. At least there is some positivity right now.
Fair, he has no ability to publicly self evaluate fairly, we don’t know if that’s the same in private but he’s hugely defensive whenever questioned.

Unfortunately that is probably why he is done at the top level, he’s not adapting with the times, he even played some good football at times with United earlier on I thought. But he’s just not there anymore and he will struggle to get back into a top club ever again.
 

EwanI Ted

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That first season was not a nightmare. It wasn't perfect but it was decent. Far from a total failure. And if he had built on his second season and actually won the league, instead of doing a Jose, very few people, if anyone in here would be whining.

Like I said, glad he is gone, but a total failure he was not.
The thing is, while the results were acceptable in the first two seasons, you never got the sense he was building something that could go up another level. The players he was using and our style of our play never suggested we'd reach 95+ points in a season. That was partly why people weren't happy even at the end of the second season, because our performances were so flat, especially after Xmas, when we reverted to the same goalscoring form as the season before. The scale of the third season failure was unexpected, but the fact that we went backwards was not a surprise.
 

Gum_gum

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
 

DCP

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
Jose?
 

roonster09

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
fecking hell :lol:
 

Inigo Montoya

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He'd be complaining about the room service in his hotel and wearing that happy demeanour he showed every match,every presser,every post match interview....
 

Wumminator

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
If you believe all that, you're spelt your username backwards.
 

MikeKing

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Yeah, glad that it didn't pan out as described in the opening post. It could easily have happened and it would have been horrible.
 

UpWithRivers

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Dont want to argue for Mourinho because lets face it, he was a terrible toxic manager. However I would say that in hindsight he was just never going to work. I never felt we were a typical Mourinho team. Yeah we parked the bus a few hundred times but it was never in his typical image. I think for many reasons but 1) The United Way - This would have been demanded from day 1. This is nothing of what Mourinho is about. And I think he tried to adapt his philosophy and failed. 2) He is a my way or the highway manager. But Man United have always stuck by their players. We have deadwoods been given chances for years. Also rightly or wrongly Pogbas side was taken over Mourinho. And again I dont think he was right but selling players like Martial he wasnt allowed to do. 3) He was not backed with the players he wanted to buy - Maguire for example. And generally Mourinho goes for older players that can make instant impacts. Which again goes against the grain of United.

So basically he was always going to be a failure. If he did stay then it would be a result of the whole philosophy of United changing and him given 100 percent backing. This would mean Pogba, Martial, Shaw etc - a lot of these guys going. We would never get to Liverpool/City level but we could win a few cups and languish in 2/3.
 

United58

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Jose Mourinho had a ridiculous stat that United didn't lose a single game from winning position under his 2 and half year long tenure. Clearly his plan was to replace the entire backline with superior defenders than a Smalling or a Jones and a better left back and right back than Shaw or Young and Valencia. That'd have ensured we convert some of our losses into draws and some of our draws into Wins. And that'd have bridged the 19 point gap we had with league leaders at the end of 17-18 season. Instead he was given a Ukranian league midfielder, a third choice Goalkeeper and a 20 year old who hadn't even played 500 minutes of professional first team football.
:houllier: he spent about £350m!
 

JJ12

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
What a dreadful post.
 

iHicksy

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
Jesus Christ Jose. You could at least try and hide it.

No retorts? Ok i'll bite.

Mourinho's plan was to let the opponent have the ball as he believed that if you didn;t have the ball then you couldn't make a mistake with it. This is part of his 5 point game plan. This isn't up for discussion, it's been confirmed by many of his previous players (including at Madrid). Hence, all of his United team play as the underdog. Regardless of opposition. You simply can't be the underdog as a manchester United manager. If we had a 1-0 lead, he would make the team sit back and defend it. This is a very risky and defensive way to play and it failed us more often than not. Ole's philosophy is to kill the game by scoring another goal. I don't see any sign from ole that he has this same philosophy. Lets take the game on Friday, he threw 6 attackers on to the pitch, there's no way Jose would ever do this.
 
Last edited:

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
It wasn't until this line that I realised you were a WUM.

Good effort with the first 4 lines, you had me.
 

Rish Sawhney

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
Since you're in the mood for some retorts:
1. Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.
Ole's gameplan is absolutely nothing like Mourinho's. Our forward players actually play like forwards instead of wingbacks for one. Even if we defend deep I never really see a 6 across the back with everyone camped inside our penalty area that happened pretty much every game under Mourinho. We're much better building up play - Mourinho's version was just give it to the fullback and hoof it upfield. Even our counter attacks are much more fluid and precise. Basically we've become a very good team under Ole and the last thing we need to work on is breaking down deep defenses and even that we're pretty good at at times we're just not consistent (and who is BTW? Even Liverpool and City struggle to break teams down at times).

2. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.
I refer you to his "Now you see why Lukaku" PC. I've never seen a manager hang a young player in his team out to dry like that basically ever. The only reason Rash might not have been sold is because he's a United fan and he'd have to figure he was gonna outlast Mourinho at the club. And Woodward would absolutely (rightly) veto it. But if you'd offered Mourinho Willian for Rashford he'd absolutely have bitten your hand off.

3. Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement
Herrera might be better but Fellaini was everything that was wrong with our club post Fergie. He was a blight on our club and the thought of him getting thrown on everytime we were trailing knowing that we would cease all pretense of actually trying to play football and just start hoofing it towards him made me absolutely hate this club. And the odd goal he scored every 6 months absolutely did not make up for it. Scott and Fred may not be the best, but they can actually pass the ball forward and don't just run it out of play for no reason.

4. Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.
Yes let us throw away two of our best players to satisfy your cult leader. Honestly at this point I'm convinced you're a troll so well done.
 

Gum_gum

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What kind of retorts do you expect when you make claims like this?
Which top teams do they get into??? Please name them, no hypothetical "anyone would want them" rubbish.

Jesus Christ Jose. You could at least try and hide it.

No retorts? Ok i'll bite.

Mourinho's plan was to let the opponent have the ball as he believed that if you didn;t have the ball then you couldn't make a mistake with it. This is part of his 5 point game plan. This isn't up for discussion, it's been confirmed by many of his previous players (including at Madrid). Hence, all of his United team play as the underdog. Regardless of opposition. You simply can't be the underdog as a manchester United manager. If we had a 1-0 lead, he would make the team sit back and defend it. This is a very risky and defensive way to play and it failed us more often than not. Ole's philosophy is to kill the game by scoring another goal. I don't see any sign from ole that he has this same philosophy. Lets take the game on Friday, he threw 6 attackers on to the pitch, there's no way Jose would ever do this.
Mate Ole plays the exact same way, which is why on this run we've been on most games have been decided by one goal.

Also, how many of you are gonna run the same Jose joke?

I'm learning this forum has unison in its thinking but the banter should at least be individual
 

elmo

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He would be using the 4-2-3-1 for real (2013-16 Chelsea), like Ole is doing right now. I'm surprised Ole is using Matic because that's 100% Mou.

DDG
Bissaka-Maguire-Alderweireld-Shaw
Pogba-Matic
Willian-Rashford-Sanchez
Lukaku
Surprised that Ole is using the best player out of Matic/Fred/Scott?

He keeps possession better than them and makes more meaningful passes than the two of them combined. His main issue is that his legs are basically gone and can't play more than a match a week.
 

Rish Sawhney

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Which top teams do they get into??? Please name them, no hypothetical "anyone would want them" rubbish.



Mate Ole plays the exact same way, which is why on this run we've been on most games have been decided by one goal.

Also, how many of you are gonna run the same Jose joke?

I'm learning this forum has unison in its thinking but the banter should at least be individual
which is why on this run we've been on most games have been decided by one goal.
That doesn't prove anything either way. You have eyes do you not? If you seriously cannot tell the different between our game play now and under Jose I have to question what you're looking at when watching the games. Just the idea that when our fullbacks get the ball I know they'll at least try to pass it into the midfield or between the lines instead of automatically hoofing it is such a big change. Or are you just looking at the scorelines?
 

JPRouve

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Which top teams do they get into??? Please name them, no hypothetical "anyone would want them" rubbish.
Well Pogba came from a top team, so Juventus and pretty much every other team on earth. Martial would get in most teams too as a squad player from Barcelona to Manchester City and pretty much any of the teams currently in the CL knockout stage. None of them would sell them based on some sort of dignity argument.
 

red thru&thru

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He & Ed, wanted instant success. We wouldn't have a young squad as we do now. I didn't see any long term plan from him. Everything was geared to success now.
 

Sandikan

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
Thank absolute friggery you're nowhere near the running of our club
 

Adam-Utd

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This is a sad, sad thread.

Mourinho had no plan? Ole is still usin' it now.

We wudda had a top LB in Sandro. I don't see why we wouldn't have bought AWB. This nonsense abuse Rash bein' sold is just that.

Both Fellaini and Herrera (neither are Jose signings) are better than Scott and Fred is a better player so them still being here would be an improvement

Martial and Pogba would probably be gone but then no manager of any dignity would keep them around anyway.

He wouldn't have got rid of Smalling because that was a stupid thing to do.
I can smell the Scouse' from ere'
 

Beanz

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Manchester United bought Jaap Stam in 98-99 season, the then costliest defender in Football and still bought Michael Silvestre in 99-00 season despite winning the Football Treble and Blanc the following season.

PSG signed Neymar and then after few days got Mbappe from League rivals, despite both being pre-dominantly Left Wing forwards.

Almost as if "We signed X for a lot of money, so we aren't going to give you Y. If you relentlessly ask for it we'll sack you." isn't a good way to run a football club as a football club.

Besides, Woodward spunked 80 mill on a fraud like Maguire 6 months after sacking the best manager in the world for his crime of seeking improvements. So all really points towards the board and not towards Mourinho.
I had an elaborate reply lined up but I just couldn't stop laughing :lol: :lol:
Its like a cult following with you guys for Jose.
 

iHicksy

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Which top teams do they get into??? Please name them, no hypothetical "anyone would want them" rubbish.



Mate Ole plays the exact same way, which is why on this run we've been on most games have been decided by one goal.

Also, how many of you are gonna run the same Jose joke?

I'm learning this forum has unison in its thinking but the banter should at least be individual
Mate i've literally cited examples in playstyle of how they are different. You can't ask for a retort then come back with "he plays the same" with nothing to refute the points i've made about how they are different.

As for "most games have been decided by one goal". That's not only a lie but it's not the same as shutting up shop at 1-0. Which is what Mourinho does.
 

Strelok

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Besides, Woodward spunked 80 mill on a fraud like Maguire 6 months after sacking the best manager in the world for his crime of seeking improvements. So all really points towards the board and not towards Mourinho.
What the feck :lol: