Football News: Jose Mourinho Needs More Time to get Manchester United Back to the Top

Image from: metv.com

I remember the pre Sir Alex Ferguson (SAF) years, and they were painful. The odd cup here and there coupled with oh so nearly every now and then in the League.

However, I also remember the dire culture, attitude and quality he took over, the 7 years it took him to put it right and the amount of times he was vilified, questioned and railed against by all and sundry during that period, myself included.

Had I, and many of my fellow staunch fans got our wish, he would have been long gone from Manchester United FC. I actually remember the cup run in 1990 and how close he came to losing that cup and the fall out from dropping his go to goalkeeper for the final.

What I'm trying to raise is that our current situation is nothing new, for any team actually. However, it has been a very long time since we had to address those experiences and it is not familiar ground for us all. SAF had many run ins during interviews, was openly critical of players, playing styles and results.

He came to us a proven winner of league and European trophies. We had won the FA Cup the year before his arrival. He moved on many of our favourite players, players I naively valued simply because of their potential quality on the day, knowing nothing of the man management, personal lifestyle, attitude or training ground experiences SAF had clearly witnessed.

He was big enough a personality and confident enough a person to believe in himself when I didn't, when my fellow fans didn't, and the media were hanging him out to dry. So it is for a simple reason that I am sticking with Jose Mourinho and hoping he is given at least another 3 years to get where he aspires to be.

I was wrong in 1986 through to 1993 and I remember it well, dreading to think what would have happened if I had my way. I do not agree that we were heading in the right direction in the slightest with the appointment of Moyes or Van Gaal and disagree we missed out on succession planning by going for Mourinho early.

I can understand how he feels the need to defend his record and point out the tools he has to work with so far and how far we fell during a very short period of 3 years of utter mediocrity and incompetence.

It is a big difference to me how Mourinho talks. Moyes drove me insane from day one, a born loser. Words like hope and maybe were just mind numbingly average. The guy doesn't have a clue what being the top of your field means. Van Gaal; how anyone can slag off Jose after watching the dross we witnessed for 2 years under Van Gaal, with possession football, at a snails pace, without attacking, is beyond me.

That's the legacy Jose has picked up, a bunch of losers, with no movement, taught and drilled for 2 years to not attack and to play sideways and backwards. Some of whom aren't the brightest, most of whom have no killer instinct or winning mentality and he is a born winner who wants change.

I totally believe he has demanded of Shaw and Valencia to play in front of defence and go up and down the wings.

Without pressure and competition, even winners can be complacent. I really feel for the Jose. We are a football team. The academy was left to stagnate without investment for years before SAF retired. We also let the playing squad stagnate and didn't invest there either.

We had £750 million of debt that needed to be repaid, and that took us a decade to get on top of. We are only just doing so in the past couple of years. We still pay out £70 to 80 million a year in interest. That money is still not going on players.

We have financial doping from PSG and Manchester City which doesn't make it a fair business to be in, no matter your history, frugality or potential. All things considered, we are past the most painful parts of change. We are now improving and heading in the right direction.

Ed Woodward learned fast and corrected his mistakes. They led to terrible decisions and investments in players. SAF didn't get it right every time at all, neither does Jose, neither does any other manager in the world, Pep included. I don't care what any other team is doing, winners do not compare themselves to anyone, they compare themselves to their own expectations of themselves.

I can plainly see when some of our players are either inadequate to carry out instructions or not good enough. I cannot agree that Jose does not play attacking, mind blowing football. He turned over the dominant Barcelona teams that battered us twice in the UCL Final.

He had some great attacking teams with amazing players who were not only difficult to beat but had quality throughout the side from front to back with very few weak links. Yet he was also at clubs with terrible leadership structures, where the egomaniacs running the club were guilty of stifling him. He didn't last 3 years because he either wasn't in full control or wasn't appreciated.

We are in serious danger, despite our different leadership structure of falling into the same trap.

Back in 1988, if someone had told me that if I shut up, acted positively, trusted in a proven winner and the board above them, then I could have 2 decades of happiness, I would have snatched their hands off. Looking back, it shames me that I ever doubted that a proven winner like SAF was anything less and that it was the culture of the club and his playing and coaching staff that needed root and branch overhauling. I never realised that he wasn't just building the first team, he was building a pipeline, via the class of 92 also.

Since Mourinho arrived, he has overhauled our poorly performing youth structures, he is regularly at those games, but no one very mentions it.

I simply hope, whatever happens in the next 2 to 3 years, the leadership backs him no matter what and really does trust in a winner to prove he is a winner. I truly believe he is and that he has lost nothing of his desire to win. Change doesn't guarantee improvement.

Lots of Manchester United fans agree that things are dramatically better, so perhaps respectfully to those who doubt, they might just be more patient for another few years and look forward as long as there remains progress, not just relating to results, but moreover to attitudes and desire on the pitch which will be visible to all.

If it meant another decade of quality and success, I would happily wait. Form is temporary, class is forever. We have a quality manager, I am not convinced I can say the same about his entire squad, and even then they need time to become a team.

I would love for us to be dominant in Europe, but Jose clearly said, just before he agreed his new deal last year, we would be at European quality by 2020. I agree, he knows more than we do and I hope he gets the chance to prove it.

Written by CheshireRed March 19 2018 17:34:21