WHY SAY ANYTHING?

When he was first appointed, José Mourinho was not universally accepted as being the “right man for the job” at Old Trafford. Some supporters, bored almost lifeless with the type of football served up by David Moyes and then Louis van Gaal, thought that Mourinho was just more of the same.

The majority, however, just wanted van Gaal out and Mourinho in based on the fact he was a proven winner with every club he had managed and United, having been starved of any serious success, (with van Gaal’s FA Cup win being the only exception), since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, were happy to oblige.

For Ed Woodward this was his opportunity to finally be accepted by the Manchester United supporters. OK he had made a complete mess of every transfer window since replacing David Gill, either buying the wrong players or wasting a fortune buying too many average ones, or he had appointed the wrong manager.

Now, however, he was appointing a serial winner. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, from a Mancunian point of view his refusal to insist that his wife accompany him to Manchester was the wrong decision. She decided to stay in London with her children. That is certainly a mother’s prerogative but, given that the “children” are 18 and 22 years of age, it is hardly a show of support for her husband.

As everbody is aware, Mourinho has “lived” in the Lowry hotel since becoming United manager. Surely he could have bought a house in which to live with his wife and the kids could visit whenever they wanted. Living out of a suitcase, whether it be in five star luxury or not, eventually becomes tedious and the yearning is for a real home with the family. Whatever he says, it has to have an impact on his moods. It has to have affected some of his decisions.

Would he, for example, still be treating Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba with the same disrespect and disdain if he had a wife to go home to and his demeanour was better? Nobody knows and he will never admit to it stating, as he always does, that living in a hotel is not a problem.

Why did Rui Faria leave? Why did he suddenly become “ambitious to manage”? He is 43 years of age and had been with Mourinho for 17 years. He stated that he wanted to “spend more quality time with his family before pursuing new challenges”. Why now? What new challenges?

In fact, his polite comments could be interpreted as meaning he has now become fed up with José Mourinho, whose mood swings have become even worse since living in Manchester and being separated from his family, and he just wants to get away from him.

Could this also be the reason his wife didn’t accompany him to Manchester? Who knows? Maybe she saw a way of living without him for a while and maybe it was SHE who wanted it that way.

Whatever the reasons, not being with the people he knows and trusts seems to have completely muddled his own thought processes and he now doesn’t appear to trust anybody.

The contrast over at Manchester City is evident in the results, the style of play and the records being broken by the club. It is also no coincidence that Pep Guardiola has immersed himself in the city itself.

He has bought an apartment in the centre in which he lives with his partner and daughters. He has also bought shares in a new Spanish restaurant which recently opened and he is, generally, very comfortable living in Manchester.

Mourinho, whatever he says publicly, is not. It is as though he has agreed with his family that he would go to Manchester for two or three years so there was no need for them all to move. Then, when he was fired or he resigned, they would get back together again in London.

The contradiction here is that he has expressed a desire to work in France and the PSG job has always been attractive to him. So what would happen if he went there? Divorce? Or would his family decide that Paris was more to their liking? If that is the case, he can go now.

It seems, having delved slightly deeper into this enigma, that José Mourinho’s family and friends are far happier being away from him than he is from them and they don’t appear to be in a rush to get back together.

It is a situation he has brought upon himself. He now has players at United, as he did at Chelsea and Real Madrid, who are doubting his word and his ability. He needs to start reconciling with a few people and, now he is chest-deep in a hole he should stop digging, otherwise he will be available to manage PSG sooner than he thinks.