These past few weeks haven’t been the best of times for Jose Mourinho
Having spent the days leading up to the start of the season making his feelings known about the lack of transfer activity at Manchester United, Mourinho has watched his side make a far from convincing start to the new campaign.
An opening day win over Leicester has been followed by two defeats – first at Brighton, then against Tottenham on their own patch on Monday.
Rumours that the former Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss could soon be adding United to his list of previous employers have been rife this week. Zinedine Zidane is said to be waiting in the wings for the call from Old Trafford, which, according to reports, could arrive in the next week if United fall to a third straight defeat when they take on Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday.
Mourinho was present at Burnley’s Europa League qualifier with Olympiacos in midweek. He also paid a visit to Old Trafford on Friday night to run the rule over United’s Under 23 side, who hosted their Stoke City counterparts.
United won by a single goal from Angel Gomes and Mourinho originally took up a position in the Sir Bobby Charlton stand to watch the match.
The United boss didn’t spend his entire night in that position, however. ESPN’s Rob Dawson was at Old Trafford for the game and noted how Mourinho left his position to spend ten minutes sitting with fans gathered in the stadium’s disabled section, making their night.
Forget the football for a second, Jose Mourinho has just gone over and spent 10 minutes with fans sat in the disabled section watching the U23s tonight. All thrilled. Fair play. Really nice touch.
— Rob Dawson (@RobDawsonESPN) August 31, 2018
This has been a difficult week for Mourinho, but his comments and actions following the defeat to Spurs on Monday night have made clear how much he’s appreciated the United supporters’ reaction to him and his team.
https://twitter.com/RyanRyannield/status/1034234462094196736
While delivering a somewhat memorable press conference after the game, he noted how supporters responded to United’s performance by applauding them off the pitch, reminding reporters in the room that fans are always the best judge of a how a team has played.
