OT: Jose Mourinho out @ Manchester United
Seeing as we have a decent EPL following here on the board, thought I'd share the glorious news that Mourinho has been sacked.
Eerily similar to his last stint at Chelsea where he was let go round about the same time, after suffering see, and pissing off the fans and players.
Interim coach to follow, full search in the summer.
Come on you Reds!
December 18th, 2018 at 7:00 AM ^
What's the over/under on the number of minutes of Sports Center that will be devoted to this story today?
MAN U! MAN U!
December 18th, 2018 at 7:53 AM ^
hopefully 0
December 18th, 2018 at 7:55 AM ^
^ Imagine still thinking soccer isn't a sport in 2018...
December 18th, 2018 at 8:18 AM ^
I doubt he's losing any sleep lol.
December 18th, 2018 at 11:40 AM ^
Imagine being that person and then being d-baggy enough to click on this thread and then even d-baggier enough to post a dopey (ie, low-quality snark) reply.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:17 AM ^
It is about frickin time. His coaching is at the same level as his attitude and character. Good riddance.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:17 AM ^
See ya ?. Never has a guy done less with more
December 18th, 2018 at 7:48 AM ^
Really? to me it seemed like the Man United executives had been extraordinarily cheap lately with getting big transfers -- especially last window.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:28 AM ^
He's not what you'd call a technical manager. He didn't put the guys in the right spots and is a terrible ego manager who pissed off the best players
December 18th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
I agree with all this (and as a Liverpool supporter was glad of it) but I did get some irrational pleasure out of the fact that he's one of the few managers in sports who doesn't seem to care if he pisses off his highest paid players. In an era of players getting coaches fired and deciding on their own schemes and plays regardless of the coach I kinda like that.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:31 AM ^
Mourinho spent almost 400 million Euros during his time at Man U. I don't blame the executives for vetoing his transfer wishes last summer, as he has proven at every stop that he cannot develop players, he can only buy them.
Good riddance.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
Cheap????? Lol. United have the highest wage bill in the league. More than city and more than Liverpool, why would the board want to waste more money on underachieving good players like pogba, Sánchez, lukaku. All these mourinho signings have been duds, why would the board spend even more money????
December 18th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
I think the board shares the blame for a lot of those signings, and some players Jose wanted were not pursued as well. A big problem for MU was not only losing Ferguson, but losing their top exec (forget his name) at the same time Sir Alex retired.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:45 AM ^
United have followed Michigan's trajectory after SAF (Sir Alex Ferguson) retired.
:/
Painful for someone who watched Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Teddy Sheringham win the Champions League against Bayern at the death.
December 18th, 2018 at 7:46 AM ^
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. I’m just happy Liverpool was able to throw the final shovel of dirt on the casket.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:24 AM ^
And to think Man U could have hired Klopp instead of Mourinho. It is not hard to think that Man U would be right there with City if Klopp is at the helm.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:21 AM ^
It's not difficult to think that Man U could be better than City right now with Klopp. Liverpool is currently "right there with City" and 2018 was the first year that they've seemed intent on spending as much as the Manchester teams, and part of that is because they sold a player for 130M give or take.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
United has much deeper pockets than Liverpool, regardless of Coutinho's sale to Barca.
It's just Klopp's vision for Liverpool and his utilization of their talents is much better than Mourinho's and United.
December 18th, 2018 at 2:21 PM ^
Yes, that's what I said
December 18th, 2018 at 7:57 AM ^
And the rumors of Arsène Wenger to Man U have started. That should be interesting.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:01 AM ^
I read in an outlet already today that it won't be Wenger. Nor shshould it be. His style of play has been passed by too.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:01 AM ^
Blanc is the frontrunner to take over as interim. Former United player, has big-time managing experience with PSG.
Zidane, Pochetinno are pipe dreams.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
Hiring Wenger is nearly the equivalent of giving Mack Brown another job.
December 18th, 2018 at 4:31 PM ^
As a long-time Arsenal fan, I logged in to upvote your comment. I'm a little older than Arsene Wenger, but there came a time when I realized that hotly contested, 20-day trials might not be the best thing for my health. Although Wenger certainly had some great moments during his days at Arsenal, his time was up when the long Champions League streak ended.
MLB Hall of Fame Manager Tony LaRussa knew when it was time to retire from managing. He got out at age 67 when he was two years younger than Wenger is now. LaRussa still gets consulting jobs. That might be the way to go for Wenger.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:00 AM ^
Here is hoping they change their mentality and start playing some attacking football. They have the talent to press just like City or Liverpool. Just need to get after it.
And maybe now they actually build an attacking identity of some kind.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:00 AM ^
Pogba says:
December 18th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
Pogba is just as much the problem as Mourinho, in my humble opinion.
Ever since he was anointed, he has disappointed!
December 18th, 2018 at 8:08 AM ^
I previously drew comparisons between him and Urban.
When you hire either of these guys, you're selling your soul to hire a scumbag no one can stand in exchange for guaranteed championships.
Except, this time, Mourinho couldn't actually win. Once you stop winning, the "special one" schtick doesn't last long.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:10 AM ^
It's about time. Even when they did reasonably well, nobody (especially the fans) seemed to be enjoying it. No way a team with that talent should be 6th.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:15 AM ^
About time. I had said at the beginning he wouldn't make it to the transfer window and the Liverpool was the final nail. Probably the worst performance i have seen in my 8 years of watching.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^
Bad fit from the beginning really. ManU higher ups signalled their intent when they refused Mourihno's buy list over the summer. Departure was inevitable.
December 18th, 2018 at 8:34 AM ^
As a City fan, I wanted jose to keep his job forever. He was such an obvious counter hire to Pep at City and after his flame out at Chelsea, I knew he would not be very successful at United. United have good players and got to the knockout stage in UCL. We will see who the next hire is. Good luck to United fans, anything will be better than José
December 18th, 2018 at 9:33 AM ^
Everyone is a "city" fan all of a sudden.
December 18th, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
IVe been a city fan since I started watching futbol 20 years ago. Well before the takeover. I was a fan when we were shit and I wanted an underdog team to root for and I am not a fan of teams in red so that ruled out pool and united. We were the fortunate club to be bought out by the big money, but the last 10 years have been great. Nice try to insult my city fandom, you are probably just a bitter united fan.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:05 AM ^
There were a shit ton of United and Chelsea fans running around 5-10 years ago. Not sure where they went.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
Biggest pet peeve, using futbol as a replacement for soccer. Why did you throw in Spanish?
December 18th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^
Get a life man, your pet peeve is people calling the sport what everyone else in the world calls the sport???? That really gets you riled up???? Geez
December 18th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
Ugh see this bugs me. Only Spanish speaking countries use the word futbol. Your whole post was in English and then you threw the Spanish word for football in there. Either use the word football or soccer.
December 18th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
He's also missing an accent over the o. So its not even Spanish. Its fucked up gringo Spanish.
December 18th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^
why go with the spanish version -- if you are doing the "whole world" thing, just say football, not futbol.
December 18th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
Ok, football. You happy???? Probably not if this riles you goobers up so much
December 18th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Yeah so fortunate to be taken over by a family with so much integrity too, I might add
December 18th, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
Zzzzzzzz. Typical City hating comments. Can’t talk about the exquisite play on the field, so let’s rip on the owners like your thought has any originality in it.
December 18th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
Strange to put that much $$$ into the club and never bother to attend a match. But I'm sure they're busy people.
December 18th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Well Khaldoon al Mubarak is the one who runs the club and all it’s affiliates. If you watched the amazon doc you would have seen the sheikh being pretty in tune to the team and it’s accomplishments. Plus, regardless of all truly bad things the UAE has done, the owners of City have done more positives for the city of Manchester than the Glazers have ever done. At the end of the day, we can call a lot of teams out for having sponsorships with UAE or Quatar, or Saudi, but it’s just old news to me. Been hearing the same shit from City haters the last 10 years. I worry about the team and it’s play, and that has been nothing short of breathtaking to watch and Pep actually improves his players.
December 18th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^
What's the fans' excuse?
December 18th, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^
In fairness, I think a lot of factors play into that. I’ll give u my personal reason for liking City, even though i just got into soccer in the last 6 months.
1) Whenever the World Cup is held, soccer always gets a fan bump in the US. People like me see the talent at its highest level, and begin to appreciate it.
2) This led me to buy Fifa 18 on Xbox (there was a World Cup mode that intrigued me, plus it was on sale for 14.99 and I figured why the hell not) despite never playing a soccer video game in my life.
3) Even if u don’t like soccer, Fifa is a blast to play. I started seeing all the different leagues all over the world. The different divisions, relegation, the champions league, all of it was so deep I had no clue. This led me to learning about the sport and how everything works, and I fell in love.
4) At the same time, amazon prime ran an All or Nothing series (just like Michigan’s) with City as the focus.
5) Watching this City team with Pep at the helm and the style his teams play, it was very easy to become a fan of them.
Im not saying there’s not a bunch of Americans saying “oh they’re the best team at the moment? I like them” We have people in this country who are Yankees fans, Duke fans, Lakers fans, and patriot fans simultaneously. I’m personally not one of those people. I’m a damn Knicks fan for f*cks sake, not a frontrunner. I completely understand your point, and if I was a United fan it would probably piss me off too, but at the same time it’s not always so simple as everyone just likes them now because they’re good. I know that was long, just thought it was a good point to make.
December 18th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
I hear you man, I just hate when people assume that if you are a city fan then there is no way you could have been a fan longer than 8-10 years. Anytime City is bossing it the same crap gets spewed-oil money, human rights abuses, buying the league, Pep is a bald fraud, etc. I can understand new fans wanting to follow city or a Liverpool or Chelsea in the EPL. Those teams are playing the sport in the most beautiful way possible. Fifa helped me understand tactics and it’s a blast to play.
December 18th, 2018 at 3:17 PM ^
I totally get it man. There’s nothing worse than being a true fan of any team,through think and thin, and then when they become good everyone says u like them because they win. But that’s one thing I’m trying to do, learn the history, the ups and downs, all of that. At the end of the day though, people in America who truly love soccer should just be happy more people are watching and discussing it period.
Side note: what’s your best source of soccer news? City news? Any particular YouTube channels u watch? That’s been the hardest part of becoming a new soccer fan, figuring out where and when the games are on (if they’re actually on) and getting consistent news about it. I get bits and pieces but I’m always missing out on something because I’m unaware it’s even on.
December 18th, 2018 at 6:17 PM ^
Mcfcwatch or citywatch is a great source for news. A good forum for fans is bluemoonforum if you like talking with fans. YouTube: Esteemed Kompany is a great channel or the man city club channel is surprisingly awesome channel. They put out a lot of videos through the week. If you want to watch the sport and can’t find a lot of places to watch highlights “fullmatchesandshows”.com carries full highlights and full matches from all over Europe. I hope that helps!!