It might feel slightly implausible now, at a time when Ryan Giggs seems to be drifting to the edges of the game, but if it had gone to a poll last season among Manchester United players about who they wanted to replace Louis van Gaal, a manager they found both bewildering and impenetrable, the majority of votes would not actually have been for José Mourinho.
No slight intended. The idea was always appealing and Mourinho had a certain mystique that players find intriguing. Mourinho once reminisced about life at Porto with its “beautiful blue chairs, the Uefa Champions League trophy, God and, after God, me”. He was always going to be a natural fit for a club with United’s haughty self-regard, where one banner, in happier times, proclaimed “not arrogant, just better”.
Related: Paul Pogba caps dramatic fightback to save Manchester United’s winning run
Related: Sir Alex Ferguson tells Ryan Giggs ‘it is time to stand on your own feet’
Continue reading...