On Saturday, Manchester United ended what constitutes a trophy drought for them by winning the FA Cup.
Jesse Lingard’s extra-time winner brought United level with Arsenal in the history books, with both clubs having claimed football’s oldest tournament a record 12 times. It was a classic footballing story, of a local boy come good.
Manchester United have now won the FA Cup in every decade since the 1960s, but something else about the club was dominating the news cycle that night.
By now, you’ve no doubt heard that Louis van Gaal is to be replaced by Jose Mourinho as Manchester United manager. Van Gaal’s struggles at Old Trafford have been well-documented, but so have Jose Mourinho’s at Real Madrid and Chelsea (twice).
In spite of the Portuguese’s difficulties at two of Europe’s biggest clubs, Manchester United fans appear to be welcoming him with open arms. But they should be very wary of what it means for their club in the long run.
Top clubs appoint managers to win them trophies. Jose Mourinho wins trophies – so the ideal choice by Manchester United.
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty) May 23, 2016
The argument for Jose Mourinho is simple. Wherever he goes, he wins. He delivered Champions League titles for both FC Porto and Inter Milan. He ruined Pep Guardiola’s final season at Barcelona by winning La Liga in 2012 and won three league titles with Chelsea across two spells at Stamford Bridge.
And sure, Mourinho will have some initial success at Old Trafford. A squad overhaul is to be expected. Despite the club dropping a quarter of a billion pounds during Van Gaal’s two-year reign, it’s hard to imagine Mourinho will be happy with the current squad.
Wherever he has gone, Mourinho has never been afraid to ostracise fan favourites who don’t fit his system. At Real Madrid, it was famously Iker Casillas. At Chelsea, two-time club player of the year Juan Mata was frozen out and sold to Manchester United. It will be interesting to see how many get similar treatment at Old Trafford in the coming months.
It appears to already be underway, with club legend Ryan Giggs set to end his 28-year relationship with the club upon Mourinho’s arrival.
On This Day: In 2014, Ryan Giggs retired from football https://t.co/bk7yzD2TqN #MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtdUpdates_) May 19, 2016
Replacing Alex Ferguson was always going to be an impossible task, and it wasn’t made any easier when Ferguson sentimentally named an underqualified David Moyes as his successor, overlooking Mourinho in the process.
The only thing that has changed in those three years since the Portuguese was passed over has been at Manchester United. Mourinho is still the exact same “character” he was back then. If anything, he has proven without a shadow of a doubt who he is.
When he returned to Chelsea, we heard stories of how Mourinho had changed. His time at Real Madrid had taught him the importance of long-term stability, and he knew he had to change his style to achieve this. The Special One would become The Calm One and stay out of trouble.
After winning the league last season, the Portuguese was gone from Chelsea by Christmas. He had previously lashed out at reports of his impending dismissal, effectively daring Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to sack him. He had publicly criticised members of the club’s medical team for having the audacity to treat an injured player, eventually bringing a lawsuit upon the club for an alleged constructive dismissal.
In short, it was the same old Jose. At Manchester United, on the other hand, fans quickly lost patience with Louis van Gaal’s slow and deliberate “philosophy”. Chants of “Attack! Attack! Attack!” rang round Old Trafford as the United midfield moved the ball from side to side, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pass the ball backwards.
66% – Jose Mourinho has the highest win ratio of any manager in the Premier League (66%). Replacement?
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 23, 2016
The criticisms of Van Gaal’s style of play are perfectly valid, but if it’s a swashbuckling attacking style you’re after then Jose Mourinho should only be slightly higher up on your list of potential managers than Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce. While Mourinho’s style is not as “park the bus” as is often said, his first priority is still on a strong defence to set up counter attacks, especially in big games.
The appointment of Jose Mourinho doesn’t make a whole lot of footballing sense. In the short term, Mourinho may win a trophy or two but his refusal to trust young players combined with a style of play so at odds with the so-called United way will damage the club down the line.
But it’s not about football anymore. Manchester United are not a football club in the way that we imagine a football club, they are an advertising business that happens to use football as their medium, capitalising on our love of the sport to promote Hollywood blockbusters in increasingly cringe-worthy ways.
Anything for the team you say, @WayneRooney? Good luck! #XMenApocalypse https://t.co/ym1XtMansq
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 20, 2016
Long gone are the days where getting bums on seats was a club’s primary source of income. We’re fast approaching – assuming we have not already reached – the moment where clubs make more money if you stay away from the stadium altogether. Shares in Manchester United jumped up 5% in the wake of the most recent TV rights announcement last year.
Hell, we all waited patiently for the news of Mourinho’s appointment on Monday until 1pm because that was when the New York Stock Exchange opened. But that’s just part of the drama, the soap opera that Manchester United have become. Business matters have overtaken footballing matters at the club.
Ed Woodward’s seeming ineptitude in the transfer market has led many of us to question his viability for his role at Old Trafford, but his ability to drum up even the most mundane of global branding partners for the club means his job is under little threat.
For a Big Club™ like Manchester United, only a Big Name™ will do. So rather than aggressively pursuing a young coach who has Premier League experience and a proven track record of developing youngsters to play in an attacking way like Mauricio Pochettino, United pretty much decided on the first big name they could think of in appointing Jose Mourinho.
As the sport of football completes its decades-long transition into the business of football, fans of other teams should be worried what this means for their futures too. These things have a habit of catching on.
