Even at the time it raised a few eyebrows. Jose Mourinho was only 19 months into a three-year contract at Manchester United when they offered him a new deal. During his first season and a half, Mourinho had won the EFL Cup and the Europa League, but few United fans celebrated the agreement that would keep Mourinho at the club until at least 2020. Many remained lukewarm to the manager’s results-based style. Although the club had returned to winning ways, they weren’t collecting the trophies that really mattered. Perhaps even more pertinently, they were not playing the free-flowing football the fans longed to see. I wrote about Mourinho’s tetchiness back in January.
Yet if there was begrudging acceptance of Mourinho’s methods from some United supporters back then, with the club second in the Premier League and looking forward to facing Sevilla in the last-16 of the Champions League, others began to openly question the logic of negotiating the new contract when the Spanish side sent United crashing out of the tournament a couple of weeks later. The club’s domestic performances didn’t give the fans much hope either. The Red Devils finished the title race a record 19 points behind their local rivals Manchester City.
Mourinho has a notoriously poor record in his third season at a club. Indeed, both times he managed Chelsea he left the club midway through his third season at Stamford Bridge. Real Madrid is the only club he has remained at the helm for the whole of the third season. This was a year which Mourinho described as “the worst of my career”. Judging by this trend, Manchester United Chief Executive Ed Woodward would have been wise to delay contract talks to see if history would repeat itself. This would have obviously run the risk of Mourinho joining a rival club, but the former Inter Milan boss would appear to be limited in his options regarding alternative employers. For varying reasons, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus wouldn’t be in a hurry to employ him. Given Juventus’ domination of Serie A, a rival Italian club wouldn’t hold much appeal to Mourinho at present. Conversely, he would be unlikely to move to PSG given his previous criticism regarding the lack of competition they face in Ligue 1.
The 55-year-old has now overseen the worse start to a league season at Manchester United since 1992. His public outbursts, which have appeared embittered for weeks, are now threatening to boil over. Recalling Mourinho’s demise at Chelsea, the similarities in his behaviour would appear to suggest his time at Old Trafford is running out. If this is the case, the board’s hasty decision to hand their Portuguese manager a new contract could prove to be a costly mistake.
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