Jose Mourinho has hinted at why he was unable to thrive at
Manchester United as manager. The former Red Devils boss has been out of work since being sacked by Roma in January and has been linked with a return to Old Trafford , but his latest words appear to put an end to that. The 61-year-old was once again unable to deliver in his third season, by now a familiar theme in his managerial career, and left the Stadio Olimpico with Roma in ninth place. Having reached back-to-back European finals before that, the Special One was unable to take advantage of a large wage bill and experienced squad. He is now looking for a fifth
Job since leaving
Chelsea in December 2015, and has been tipped in some quarters to be keen on a second spell at United. It was only in February that the three-time
Premier League winner himself squashed these rumours, and his recent comments now seem to explain both why he struggled to replicate success elsewhere at United and also why he won't be the fit for Sir Jim Ratcliffe moving forward. ALSO READ: My world came crashing down - but now I'm thriving on loan ALSO READ: Berrada set to have significant say in any United managerial change "In some club structures then you have to be the coach, then you have to be the technical director, then you have to be the communications director, then you have to be the image that defends the club, the players," Mourinho told Fabrizio Romano. "That is something people realise but at the same time is something that the coach doesn’t like because myself as a coach, what I want to be is a coach. "The ideal scenario is when the club has a structure that allows the coach to be the coach on the pitch, on the training ground, in the dressing room, on the touchline, but be the coach." The Portuguese boss then went on to omit United from the clubs he felt offered him these conditions. "I was the coach at Inter, I was the coach at
Real Madrid. I was the coach, in my first spell, at Chelsea . I was the coach at Porto. In some other clubs I wasn’t the coach, so that is very difficult for a coach, very difficult for a coach," he said. As more and more clubs move toward an aligned structure that relies on managers to be figureheads rather than just tacticians or motivational artists, Mourinho has found his position in the modern game increasingly under threat. In consecutive roles and
Tottenham and United he eventually failed to bring together the separate factions alongside on-pitch results. Granted the power at United under the Glazer family, who have frustrated many with their running of the club in the past decade, Mourinho was unable to flourish as he did in previous roles. Erik ten Hag is just the second man to try and bring stability and trophies to the club since Mourinho's departure in 2018, winning the Carabao Cup last year as well as delivering a third-place league finish, but is under pressure following a stuttering second season. With Ratcliffe and Ineos planning wholesale changes across the club, Ten Hag's position in charge will be one of the many spots being assessed in the coming months . It is not yet clear how the new investors will rule on the current coach, but the pressure remains regardless. Mourinho, though, seems here to spell out just why he not only isn't the man that INEOS will look to , but also why he wouldn't have the environment that is needed to get the most out of his own abilities too. Perhaps not a surprise, but Mourinho's time at Old Trafford very much appears to be over. However, he was still keen to reflect well on the periods spent at clubs across Europe when asked why he felt that Chelsea fans were singing his name and that United supporters, specifically, still love him. "I always say that the best thing
Football has are the fans because the fans, they don’t make money with football, they spend money with football," he said. "Sometimes they spend money that the family needs and they make sacrifices because of the passion for football and especially for the passion with their clubs. "Normally they are fair. When the club’s fans don’t like the player, don’t like the coach for some reason, it is not because of beautiful eyes or some handsome guys, they love it or they don’t love it for some reason. "In my case, independent of results of course I had the luck to have something to celebrate, something for the fans to have a good memory of me but I think something that they see is that you are committed to them and I’m always committed to my club and fans, doesn’t matter, which country, doesn’t matter. "So I think they have a feeling that I give everything and because of my personality, in the end I am always going to be more than a coach."