Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has finally accepted that Jose Mourinho can’t solve the problem at Old Trafford and feels he will be sacked.
But the eight-time Premier League winner with United now feels Mourinho will be axed. And Neville hopes the board at least hold off until May, as a mid-season departure may prove even more damaging to the team.
Manchester United now sit sixth and 11 points off the Champions League places after this afternoon’s convincing 3-1 defeat to arch-rivals and title-chasing Liverpool.
The blow at Anfield was not a great surprise to Neville, who has seen United lose five of their 17 top-flight games this season. And reflecting on the manager’s future after the match, Neville said on Sky Sports: “Will Mourinho leave? I think it will happen. My preference would always be to get to the end of the season. The problem they will have now is that it will cost an absolute fortune to lose him and, when you lose a manager midway through a season, there’s the situation of who is going to come in.
“What do they want for the next three or four years at the club? Because it’s not as easy as saying get rid of the manager. Manchester United need to reset. It’s not just the manager, it’s deeper than that. United fans don’t want to go to games, they are not looking forward to matches. That’s not just now, that was under David Moyes and it was the manager’s fault, under Louis van Gaal and it was the manager’s fault and now under Mourinho and it’s the manager’s fault.
“Three good managers that have good records – one of them the best in the last 20 years alongside Pep Guardiola – and that’s why you have to say something is broken. I’m sure Manchester United will change the manager at the end of the season at the latest, we’re all pretty certain of that. But there’s a multitude of issues, it’s more complex than the manager getting the best out of the players or not being backed. It’s a deep problem, it needs resetting, the whole club needs resetting.
“Five years ago, two huge figures [Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill] left that football club, two figures that had great knowledge of the game. What happened was the financial and commercial people, that are fantastic at their jobs, were put in charge of the football side of things and they are not competent enough to do it. They have to now hand it over to people that are good enough to run the football side of the club.” United are back in action once more before Christmas as they travel to Wales next Saturday to take on Cardiff (5.30pm).