It's not United, it's mourinho. He was defending him to the hilt last season when at Chelsea.
And rag supporters hated him as well. I don't know if they still do, but he certainly loves Mourinho like no other. This is from the ever good football 365 mediawatch.
http://www.football365.com/news/mediawatch-mourinho-has-pep-running-scared
For those who don’t know, the love story between Castles and Mourinho is one for the ages. The former reports frequent exclusives on the latter, from transfer updates to more menial managerial on-goings. They are so closely intertwined, in fact, that Castles is currently writing a four-part series titled ‘PROJECT MOURINHO’. The second edition is awfully cute.
‘There are two things Manchester United supporters need to know about Jose Mourinho’s attitude to his new job,’ he begins. ‘First, if United had offered him a six-year contract he would have signed it.
‘He is in the Premier League for the long term, and in his mind there is no better club to be at long-term than United.’
Is this the same Mourinho who once pledged to “build a team for the next ten years” midway through his most recent term at Chelsea? How did that work out?
Castles then explains how, contrary to reports, it was Mourinho who turned down the chance to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, not the club who rejected him.
‘At the personal invite of Sir Alex Ferguson, he’d been asked to succeed the Scot as Manchester United manager. Kept studiously secret by both sides, negotiations with the club were so advanced that plans had been made for Mourinho and his family to have use of a helicopter, so his children could live and study in London, while he coached in Manchester.
‘Mourinho chose Chelsea, leaving his friend Ferguson to swap a carefully planned succession for the famously scrambled appointment of David Moyes; out shopping with his wife when he received the phone call to meet his fellow Scot. From a purely sporting perspective, though, the Portuguese’s decision seemed strange.’
Ah, that ‘famously scrambled appointment’ of Moyes, which was announced on May 9, 2013 – two games before the end of the season.
Some may remember that, while Mourinho won a Premier League title at Stamford Bridge, his reign ended with the club battling relegation. Was it his fault? Not in the world of Castles.
‘It was not hard for close friends to predict that Abramovich would never be satisfied; that eventually the dysfunctional nature of the club would engulf another coach. That Mourinho took the job regardless, that he managed to build a title-winning side, is a mark of his qualities as a leader.’
And what was Mourinho’s sacking in December, with the club 16th, one point above the relegation zone, ‘a mark’ of? But still, it really,
really wasn’t his fault.
‘There is desire to put many at Chelsea in their place for their failure to support his requests to improve an obviously imbalanced squad and restructure a backroom staff not fully of his own choosing after he brought the Premier League back to the club.’
It must have been Chelsea’s ‘failure to support his requests’ that forced Mourinho to oversee nine defeats in his first 16 league games at the club last season. And Mourinho’s reaction at their failure to ‘restructure a backroom staff’ in line with his wishes must have been to insult Eva Carneiro for doing her job. That is presumably the ‘dysfunction’ referred to earlier.
Castles can barely hide his excitement as he discusses Mourinho renewing his rivalry with an old adversary at Manchester City.
‘Unlike Guardiola, who spent a part of last season nervously trying to find out if United would hire Mourinho, he looks forward to going head-to-head with a man he tactically and mentally bested in Spain.’
Jose Mourinho’s record as Real Madrid manager against Guardiola’s Barcelona: Played 11 Won 2 Drew 4 Lost 5.
Jose Mourinho’s overall head-to-head record against Guardiola-managed sides: Played 18 Won 4 Drew 6 Lost 8.
‘In much the same way as he objects to the lazy characterisations of him as a manager who does not promote young players, succeeds only through spending, or depends on defensive tactics, Mourinho does not regard himself as a short-term coach,’ adds MourinhoCastles.
A reminder that Mourinho, in defending himself against ‘the lazy characterisation of him as a manager who does not promote young players,’ recently included a 20-year-old Arjen Robben on a list of youngsters he had used throughout his career; Robben had played more than 100 senior games before joining Chelsea. Also included were ten players who had played just ten minutes each under the Portuguese, and three who had featured for a single minute under his management.
‘Abramovich twice terminated Mourinho’s employment at Chelsea, yet his first stay at Stamford Bridge was just seven months shorter than Guardiola’s longest period in charge of one club. Oddly, the Catalan is rarely criticized for alleged short-termism.’
Unnecessary digs at a managerial rival, ‘debunking myths’ over promoting youth and shifting the blame on to anyone and everyone else. Castles’ Record column reads like a Mourinho press conference. He will be ever so proud.
