And still made a £23M loss on £314M turnover!
There's gotta be something wrong in the dressing room. It can't be tactical, because they're basically playing the same tactics as always. Teams might have figured out how to beat them a bit better, but it's still easier said than done against a top team. Their fitness suffered in the second half of last season with Mourinho using a core of players all the time, but they had a full preseason, with no internationals, so that shouldn't be an issue. The only possibility is that he's lost the dressing room, and let's face it, that would be consistent with his previous record. Even teams that lose all of their best players don't drop this far in a season. He's in a relegation battle with the champions ffs.
It can't go on forever. If they lose on Saturday v Sunderland they'll almost certainly be in the bottom 3. I think that will be Jose's last straw.
Who are they going to replace him with? Can't have a caretaker boss with over half the season left. Ancelotti would never go back there and their fans would probably riot if they had Rodgers for a manager.
SSN - Chav Board have discussed Maureen but it's not an emergency. lol
No full backing yet! Only 5 people know if he's been sacked.
Big crowd there for your London Derby, mate ;-)
It's an incredible situation, really; unprecedented in the modern era. It's not necessarily easily resolvable either imo.
Unlike most, I'm ambivalent about Mourinho. On occasions I've seen him interviewed away from the cauldron of the stadium and he's struck me as quite an engaging, funny man. I know many who interact with him away from the cameras speak highly of him. It's also right to say that at times he's inspired a huge amount of loyalty from those who've played under him. I also think he's proved to be a tactical genius in many one-off games, Liverpool in 2014 being one such example.
On the other hand he can be an utterly graceless, petty and vindictive man. Some of his paranoid ramblings border on the absurd. The disrespectful way he talks of others, often without any provocation, is deeply unattractive and is possibly now proving to be counter productive; a siege mentality can only have a limited shelf-life in terms of its effectiveness, surely.
Given his exalted status within the game over the last decade it's easy to forget where he came from to arrive at that destination. He was a mediocre player who became a translator for Bobby Robson, before embarking on what has to be viewed as a remarkable footballing journey. One has to wonder after all those years of climbing that ladder so quickly and being hailed in certain quarters as one of the greatest managers of all time, whether he has the mental fortitude to cope with a significant diminution in his standing, especially if that is for a prolonged period.
Beneath that sneering, self-assured veneer lies, I suspect, a man with deep insecurities about where he came from and how he is viewed by others. I think he's got a taste for life at the very top which he'll struggle to cope without.
I expect he'll get the united job sooner or later, but the same air of invincibility that surrounded both him and them half a decade or so ago is no longer there. There's a little part of me that wants him to go there, because if it doesn't go to plan, and there's every chance it won't, it will make utterly compelling and entertaining viewing that makes the present sideshow at united seem as boring as the football currently on offer.
Glad he never came to mange us.
As far as I can see, they're probably OK for FFP as things stand but we don't know what the 2015 figures look like yet. But all the quotes about it costing £40m to sack him are probably well wide of the mark. If he is sacked, there's no legal requirement simply to pay up the remainder of his contract. What will most likely happen is that they'll agree a compensation figure between them that may well take into account the likelihood of him getting a new job, which you'd say was quite high. Or they'd just carry on paying him normally until he did get a new job. So I doubt that the cost is a significant factor in the decisionI think our American friends have a saying for that "turnover for show, profit for dough" Our turnover has exceeded yours for a couple of years now, but we only recently showed a small profit. I seem to recall a few on here who know about finances(@prestwichblue perhaps?) saying Chelsea were sailing close to the wind with regards to FFP.
As for Jose quitting, I just can't see it. Financially it makes no sense for him to just up and quit. If someone comes in for him that might change.
As far as I can see, they're probably OK for FFP as things stand but we don't know what the 2015 figures look like yet. But all the quotes about it costing £40m to sack him are probably well wide of the mark. If he is sacked, there's no legal requirement simply to pay up the remainder of his contract. What will most likely happen is that they'll agree a compensation figure between them that may well take into account the likelihood of him getting a new job, which you'd say was quite high. Or they'd just carry on paying him normally until he did get a new job. So I doubt that the cost is a significant factor in the decision
My guess would be that they have to get someone to replace him first and there has to be a chance that the replacement could avoid relegation. The danger is that by pulling the trigger without a realistic Plan B, it could all fall apart even more than it has done already.Cheers Colin, tx for clearing that up. Not sure why Roman hasn't pulled the trigger tbh. He's clearly lost the dressing room and they are in real danger of a relegation dog fight. I can't see Costa, Hazard, Fabregas et al being up for that.