Chairman and manager have plenty in common and Levy must trust that his gamble persuades key players to stay
José Mourinho’s
Manchester United team looked broken. The date was 29 September 2018 and their shortcomings were written large on the open spaces of West Ham’s
London Stadium. The 3-1 defeat was a nail in his coffin and no one left east London that day thinking he had too much longer as the United manager.
Mourinho would limp on for two and a half months – fighting, arguing, remorselessly testing patience – and, when the end came, it was not just his bridges at Old Trafford that were burned. It was extremely difficult to see that another leading
Premier League club would call for him again.