Mourinho to Manchester United could leave them teetering on edge of obscurity

Write Red Devils under Mourinho would definitely win trophies but will fail to lay a foundation for long-term success

So another change, another massive upheaval for Manchester United. The Glazers have certainly acted swiftly to replace Louis van Gaal and in doing so have thrown the philosophy of ‘developing a team’ out the window.

Instead they have opted for a more short term, yet highly efficient, solution — former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

The growing dissent amongst supporters and shareholders alike seemingly got to United’s US-based owners, who, tired of soaking the pressure for three years since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, have now shown their intent to develop a trophy-winning side rather than leave a legacy-forming one.

United’s owners have thereby signalled the start of a new era, a new Manchester United.



The initial plan of using ‘The Departing Dutchman’ Louis van Gaal to lay the foundation for assistant manager Ryan Giggs to carry on his mentor Ferguson’s legacy certainly did not work, and the management subsequently decided that they have spent enough time in trying to pursue a relic of the past and must now follow a new approach; a modern approach.

And one can completely understand their point of view as this new approach certainly has a strong appeal to it.

It is a tried and tested method which many other clubs have applied and have found immediate success with the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain being prime examples.

Since their high-profile takeovers, all three of these clubs have found success almost immediately and have been able to add many trophies to their cabinet. They have been regularly challenging for top honours and have been able to satisfy their supporter’s thirst for trophies successfully.

Thus in trying to pursue this strategy, United’s owners are doing exactly what is required to safeguard their own interests — keep the shareholders happy by bribing the fans with more trophies.

However, there is a downside; this strategy teeters on the edge of obscurity.

It has the potential to completely destroy the foundations of loyalty and honour — both crucial ingredients for long-term sustainability — within a club and usher in an era of opportunism and short term targets.



And while it is true that more trophies would certainly come flying in with this new direction, the manner of their achievement would not sit well with the traditions of a club like Manchester United.

The question thus is: Will the management’s impatience cost United in the long run?

Well, it most certainly would.

United, a club built on the ideology of setting trends rather than following them, are now adapting to the modern ways, hoping to wriggle out of a mess they never anticipated would get so out of hand.

Van Gaal, the great Dutchman who has managed gigantic clubs and ever bigger personalities, was not supposed to be humiliated like this. He was supposed to keep United afloat till Giggs came of age after which United were expected to magically become the same team they were under the legendary Ferguson — the perfect plan.

But nothing went according to plan and the management hit the panic button all too early.

The threat of doing a Liverpool certainly must have also played its part as Liverpool, as dominant in the 70s and 80s as United in the 90s and 2000s, also experienced a similarly panicky slide once the trophy-laden era under first player and then manager, Kenny Dalglish, came to an end.

United’s management, well any club’s management, would certainly want to avoid that and are thereby using Plan B, aka their financial clout, to come out of the mess they currently find themselves in.

And Mourinho offers the best exit. He certainly will get United more trophies and probably might even marshal the Red Devils to European glory, but what happens after that?

The same three-year cycle of Mourinho first guiding the team to a title followed by him clashing with players which will lead to a sharp dip in form, and subsequently the same charade that has followed each and every single of his exit from Chelsea to Chelsea back again will happen.

And when it does, then what? How many times will United, just like Chelsea, find a Mourinho to bail them out?

United must therefore tread carefully because once the supporter’s thirst for trophies is satisfied, they will start demanding the thing they have been so desperately craving since Ferguson left — a good brand of attacking, exciting football capable of outdoing any team in the world.