Manchester United made their bed with Jose Mourinho and now look prepared to lie in it

By Mark Critchley

Jose Mourinho believes you can learn a lot about a man from his timepiece. A watch is, according to the Manchester United manager, “the only jewellery a man should wear” and at the end of each season in which his players win a trophy, he sets his own aside as a memento and acquires a new one. It’s the winner’s medal he can wear all year round.

Rarely has Mourinho had to start a new season with an old watch but one of those few occasions came five years ago, following his defenestration from Real Madrid. Throughout his fractious, trophyless third year in Spain, Mourinho wore the 20,000 euros deLaCour ‘Mourinho City Ego’ on his left wrist and its encasing was inscribed with a maxim that, though pretentious, still reveals something about his character. “I am not afraid of the consequences of my decisions,” it read.

Mourinho could’ve said the very same words on Saturday night. Having just reacted to United reaching the FA Cup semifinals by accusing his players of lacking ‘personality’, ‘class’ and ‘desire’, he was asked whether such criticism might upset them. “What can I lose?” was his response. “I have nothing to lose in relation to that.”

The message was that either those players performing poorly improve and prosper or they sulk and continue to stagnate. If it’s the former, good. If it’s the latter, it will come at little personal or professional cost to their manager.

A day earlier, in that 12-minute monologue on ‘football heritage’, there was another telling line when Mourinho invoked the names of Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold, United’s executive vice-chairman and group managing director respectively. “We’re on the same page,” he stressed. “We agree on everything. We know we’ve a process. We agree on the investments, we agree that we have what we have.” He reiterated: “We’re exactly on the same page. Life’s good. I’ve an amazing job to do.”

Though on face-value the rant appeared to be the product of an ego bruised by Champions League elimination, this part in particular spoke of a man emboldened, one confident that he retains the support of his employers.

For when trying to understand the events of last week, it must be remembered that Mourinho’s Old Trafford tenure received the most important endorsement possible in late January when he was handed an extended contract until 2020, plus the option of another year.

The announcement came not long after the publication of reports suggesting that Mourinho could resign at the end of the season, as well as claims that his approach had been received like a cup of cold sick by many in Manchester.

Instead, the latest suggestion is that eight players, acquired for a combined fee of more than 162 mn pounds, could be allowed to leave Old Trafford for much less this summer. Mourinho appears to be distancing himself from his squad, secure in the knowledge he’ll be given the time and resources to reshape it.