Leading up to this, I had, and still have, reservations about Mourinho. He seems to get more strung out and more tempestuous every season that passes. Chelsea's meltdown was a red flag. However, as the decision approached the inevitable, I also had a touch of nostalgic memories back to the time of Sir Alex's retirement. Thinking back to when I learned Sir Alex was retiring, I thought for sure it would be Mourinho. It had to be. Mourinho's respect for Sir Alex, the Real Madrid post-match comments by Jose, it just all fit. It just made sense.
When Moyes was announced, I thought, well... "maybe they know better". We went for the "nice guy". The "long-term option". The romantic option, though? I'm not so sure. I really wanted Moyes to be successful,though. I yearned for the Busby - Ferguson - Moyes Scottish connection to be made. I wanted the Chosen One to succeed. But Mourinho's shadow hung like cloud over it all. Moyes was a gamble. Jose, for me, was the sure thing. The safe choice. The best choice.
One of the last to abandon Moyes, I still think with more time and backing he might've turned a corner, but at the time there seemed to be no end to how far we'd fall. Moyes was lost at the end, he had no answers. I wondered, how bad will this get? How low will we tumble before we turn a corner?
Finally, in the end, Moyes was mercifully let go. A huge sense of relief, but the shadow remained. There was Jose, slowly and patiently building Chelsea up. He said they had no chance, but were the only true challengers for the title that season. You could sense it and taste it ... next season, he'd take the title. Which he would.
Then we chose Van Gaal. Unorthodox, a bit of a madman, notorious for his fallings out with players, but the mastermind behind an Ajax side which thrilled. The football was dreadful when he started. He cleaned house of absolutely useless players, his transfer strategy for the most part looked totally influenced by the World Cup - a huge red flag (Never buy players based on a few matches in a tournament). Then, it continued. Baffling lineups and positioning. He seemed to relish his success with Holland and tried to shoehorn United into a bizarre 3-5-2. Then an ultra-defensive 4-2-3-1. Mind bending posters on this forum at the time tried to convince that this was in actuality a 4-3-3, that better days would come, the philosophy and process would come good. Eventually we began to realise that people saying the football we saw was different and more advanced from our perception was false. For me, it came during pre-season this year, same old shit, different day - with Bastian Schweinstieger, Memphis Depay, Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlien. A good transfer window, by most accounts, resulted in the same dire football. The grand transition to Ajax had faded. This was how the football was going to be. Pogue started a thread that day. It was tepid, boring, and sleep inducing (the football - not Pogue's thread).
I'll never say that I don't appreciate what Van Gaal accomplished. He brought stability to a team in free-fall. I never felt we'd be fall to 7th, or lose sight of top four with Louie. But we were mind numbingly boring. I was at Old Trafford against West Ham and I remember struggling against the atmosphere. It was more about the history, the glory of the past. The football was dreadful. Walking to the pub after the match with the bloke behind me chanting "Louis Van Gaal's Sh*te Army". The shadow had returned hung over it all. Mourinho was about to be sacked. Some drunk fella thought I was Bastian Schweinsteiger himself and started to berate me in the loo. Next week it was the Jose scarves on sale at Old Trafford. Maybe, I could finally have a pee in peace if Jose was in charge.
Van Gaal was in touching distance of top four, and I do appreciate the FA Cup win. I really wanted top four, as well. But he's gone now. And all I can do now think back to 3 years ago when I heard Sir Alex was retiring and think, it's Jose. It has to be. Now it is. For me, it's meant to be. This is no slight on United's history. I buy not one effing cent into the we've sold out, we've sold our souls, football is dead hysterics of arm waving fanatics. We've got the proper manager, with the proper mentality, I hope, to go forward. It's 3 years ago again. I'm back at the same point I started.
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