"We have to win because, when you lose too much, it's the end of the world for me also." Louis van Gaal
Showing posts with label Old Trafford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Trafford. Show all posts
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Tuesday, 29 May 2018
Why United Should Say No Way Jose
Claudio Ranieri was everything the Premier League needed this season. A manager brimming experience – good and bad; full of character; natural humility; a winning ethos and most importantly, an understated ego. The fact that Leicester City did so well all during the season ensured that we all came to know him better as with every victory came another interview. All of which were entertaining and interesting. With a touch of “will he or won’t he do the business for The Foxes to all of them. Even up day the club were to win the title Claudio was in Italy having lunch with his 97-year-old mother. A touch of class one would have to say and everything that makes the game of football truly beautiful. Therefor thought that Jose Mourinho may return to the Premier League as the boss at Manchester United is horrendous. His last game was at King Power before he was sacked and the Special ego got in the way of the job once again.
If true that he will be back the airwaves will be once again cluttered with his weekly nonsensical musings about matches. Or a streams of criticisms of match officials all of whom are seemingly part of an inter galactic conspiracy to make his life tough. Which at one time amused the press in the mixed zone, as The Special One was always able to muster a distraction, but have now become monotonous. His record at Real Madrid prior to the second coming at Chelsea used the same Modus Operandi and so few cried when he finally left the club in 2013. The polar opposite to the case were Ranieri to leave the King Power Stadium this week to take the Italy national; job for example. The City would draw to a halt in sick as the Italian has epitomised everything the sport should stands for; his club representing the spirit that football has enshrined over the decades. That over the years have eroded as the player wallets got bigger but somehow has been revitalised for the next generation of fans with the new Champions.
Not unlike Kevin Keegan or Graham Taylor in their time, Ranieri also introduced a new vernacular in the world of football speak - Dingly dingly dong.
Clearly the success of Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United has come at an unforeseen price with the club apparently still unable to chart a path to success ever since the Scot retired. With his immediate replacement David Moyes failing to deliver results after arriving with an impeccable CV from Everton. Now the pedigree of Dutchman Louis van Gaal has failed to quell the rumours that his time may also be up now. And a narrative that has proved a constant irritant as the media repeat the questions almost weekly about his imminent demise. Which probably helps explains why Mourinho was so popular with the press as he provided easy copy daily for the less industrious writers. As van Gaal is less articulate in English the obsession became personalised and ultimately a negative force.
The latest reports now suggest that Mourinho may be a shoe in within days or hours to formally replace Mourinho former boss/ partner at Barcelona. Unimaginable though before the FA Cup Final next week.
With no track record in young players at any of his clubs and rarely lasting more than three season seasons at any in recent years Mourinho seems a strange choice for United given the need for longer term stability. Rather than a quick fix. Having just trusted van Gaal and arguably failing the long running rumours may solidify into fact pretty soon. With the added pressure of Pep Guardiola installed across at City it might make the fact that Jose was not originally selected when Ferguson left now irrelevant. When needs must the devil rides so they say and as the composition of the board has changed somewhat and the US owners are more anxious for results. Particularly seeing fellow American John W Henry enjoy a resurgence at the club’s other rivals Liverpool. The club now in the Europa League Final under Juergen Klopp – a new era manager with a proven reputation.
So the Glazers may bite the bullet and bring in Mourinho offering him an open chequebook to buy what he needs. Which is one thing Jose knows how to do – that is spend money - but not always effectively.
In truth Jose is more PSG material where with Middle East owners are not afraid to test the limits of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play and would enable the Portuguese manager to spend his way to success. More easily won in a Ligue 1 where Paris clearly now dominate and that allow focus to remain on the Champions League with minimal player rotation. Unfortunately, the incumbent Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc has extended his contract until the end of the 2017/18 season. But the 50-year-old former France World Cup winner in 1998 has also played for United and knows the club. Having led PSG to back-to-back Ligue 1 titles and only last season completed an unprecedented treble of league, League Cup and French Cup triumphs he oozes ability. Which is more than Mourinho at this time and with a contrasting style that would befit the Old Trafford Club in their current battles.
Surely United could attract his interest as Blanc has failed to get his hands on the Champions league trophy in this three years at the club after replacing Carlo Ancelotti. So a change might be good.
Earlier this season in the first meeting of Chelsea and Leicester City Mourinho proved true to type and particularly after being defeated at Kings Power stadium to long-time rival Ranieri. It was a loss that left Chelsea resting around the drop zone area and put Mourinho out of work. An imaginable thought less than six months prior when the Special One was heroically celebrating another Premier League title at Stamford Bridge. So no doubt that even the darkest of humour could not have laughed that situation off. Even less so Mourinho – who fails in that department – and takes himself far too seriously. Therein lying his problem as his players seemed to desert him leaving the manager isolated on the side-lines at his hour of most need and helpless to correct anything. Seeking solace with megaphone diplomacy to reach out to his players in recent weeks. The opposite to Ranieri another former Chelsea manager.
For all Mourinho’s alleged suaveness and style, he is unable to do a number of basic things required of an experienced football manager – the first is having a thick skin. Also to accept defeat when it arises, understand the vagaries of refereeing, display some humility when there are short comings to his plans, or even accepting blame at times for mistakes. Most importantly though, moving on to the next game and leaving the past behind him.
That’s not for him as it is always the blame game and at Leicester City it was the turn of the ball boys – who allegedly in Jose’s eyes – were too slow giving back the balls to his players towards the end of that game. Perhaps playing a causal role in the Chelsea’s loss as a result in his view. The need to win at all costs is something that has worked well over the years since he first landed on the football landscape with the Champions League win at Porto in 2004. Having repeated the feat with Inter Milan in 2010 and added league titles in four European jurisdictions his CV leaves him in an exclusive club no doubt. However, it does not all read like a fairy tale as at each of the clubs he has left behind some level of crisis as he is capable of starting a row on his own in a phone booth - when the mood takes him. With an ability to also target those players who he feels carry too much power in his dressing room. Or too high profile in his eyes.
Hence Juan Mata was shipped out off to United on Jose’s return to Chelsea despite having played his best season at the club the previous year.
Mourinho then chose to find a home for Radamel Falcao for some reason at Stamford Bridge - someone who hardly played a game since leaving Monaco - and carrying an injury since dominating the headlines for Atletico Madrid they won Europa league in 2013. In addition, the chase for Diego Costa, who also had established himself as Falcao’s replacement at Atletico under Diego Simeone - but was injured toward the end of the season – even coming off in the Champions League Final in Lisbon. Which was followed by a poor world cup with Spain in Brazil, and unable to reclaim his place under Del Bosque. It took time but he eventually outperformed all expectations in his first season for Chelsea. But has been absent without trace this year.
Perhaps Jose’s best decision was to sell David Luiz – doing so at the top of the market during the last world cup – and before the splendour of the home teams hopes imploded on the Copacabana – when they were dumped out by Germany. With PSG paying €50 million euros for a player even Rafa Benitez could not decide was a defender or midfielder. And lest we forget there were some other astute moves like coaxing Cesc Fabregas back to London from Barcelona, a move that paid dividends for both parties as the former Arsenal player delivered last season. Eden hazard was another that repaid Mourinho’s faith as did Drogba when he returned from China.
But ever since the unneccary Eva Carneiro incident Hazard has only been a shadow of his former self, as indeed has been Fabregas. With neither performing as needed this season. Why Oscar wasn’t sold during the transfer window was another bizarre Jose decision given that he was unable to hold his place in the physicality of Mourinho’s game plan in the Premier League.
As the former Liverpool striker and one time Wales and Real Madrid manager, John Toshack, used to say - even top class managers last only three seasons. The one in which they arrive and acclimatise to the job, which then may pose problems in the second if there is the need to win something and prove the honeymoon is over. With the third possibly cut short even if titles were won year as the winning laurels are easily forgotten if not maintained. The exit door the surest guarantee. As occurred at Real when Mourinho accused the players of leaking team information to the media. The two targets in his sights proving immovable club stalwarts, captain Iker Casillas and vice-captain, Sergio Ramos and the ensuing carnage during the club’s chase for the tenth Champions League title.
No doubt Mourinho’s own paranoia get the better of him also given his need to control all events with that over exaggerated self-belief. Which don’t make him immune to life’s realities. Those times when events are not going his way for example and there is an urgent need for Plan B. It appears that Mourinho doesn’t do that second plan. Its all or nothing for him.
At Chelsea that inability to adapt cost him the job he craved at United once Real Madrid agreed to dispense with his services. Whether going back to Stamford Bridge was wise is now a redundant argument as they won trophies last season. With the chastening experience of the current developments one imagines Madrid would not seek his services ever again. With Porto not big enough anymore and Inter offering no vacancy either. From all the soundings through his agent it is clear that Mourinho wants another go in the Premier League to right the perceived wrongs.
If the bookies were to be believed at the time his departure the move was contrived to secure the Special One a spot at Old Trafford - the place he always wanted - but was never offered. The club selcting instead the low key choices of David Moyes and then the pedigree of van Gaal that were the preferred options. But both proving short of the mark thus far and leaving the United board still facing the Fergie replacement problem four years on. With that overriding sense of desperation it may mean Mourinho does come back.
But would we would not be all better off with less of the bitter Mourinho and more of the Real Special One, Claudio Ranieri.
OSM- All rights reserved
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Friday, 13 May 2016
Leicester in New Era of Shirt Sponsorship
When Leicester City signed its first apparel deal with Puma four years ago, the team was firmly ensconced in English soccer’s second division. As the Premier League championship seemed less unlikely the ckub executives never even thought to include a bonus clause in its contract with Puma.
The two parties are now in talks about a new contract that would reflect Leicester’s sudden and unexpected status as England’s best soccer team, according to sources.
The terms of the existing arrangement are private, but it is worth a fraction of what the league’s traditional powers earn from their sponsors, and there are several years left on the deal.
Meanwhile, Adidas will part ways with last years ch,apions Chelsea, getting a payoff of at least £50m as the 10-year deal will end in June 2017, six years earlier than planned.
The breakup “comes as a surprise and leads to questions over what really happened behind the scenes,” Zuzanna Pusz, an analyst at Berenberg Bank, said.
“We find the event worrying, raising concerns over the intensifying battle in the European football sponsorship rights,” he said.
This season, in lieu of a bonus payment, Puma will pay for additional marketing for Leicester City, including an open-top bus tour next week and the team’s preseason tour to the US.
The sportswear manufacturer based in Herzogenaurach in Germany, was as surprised as the rest of the world by Leicester’s rise. It made about 25,000 shirts to sell to fans, an inventory that has been sold out for months.
Next season, it will produce as many as 90,000 shirts. Manchester United, the record 20-time English champions, has the UK’s biggest technical equipment agreement, a 10-year £750m (€950.3m) deal with Adidas.
Puma pays Arsenal about £30m a season, similar to Adidas’s arrangement with Chelsea.
Those figures dwarf the amount available to teams like Leicester, which typically get free-kit for the club and discounts on stock to retail to fans.
Until this year Puma’s relationship with Leicester was managed at arm’s length by a company based in Manchester that is responsible for arrangements with lower-tier teams in the Puma stable.
They include Fleetwood Town, where Leicester recruited its top scorer Jamie Vardy from.
Leicester’s unprecedented success has put the Foxes in the global spotlight, and Puma is struggling to put a value on a new deal. Leicester’s TV audiences are up more than 23% across metered markets globally with 29% growth in the UK, according to Repucom, a sports-intelligence company.
As a result, Repucom said, the team’s media value has grown 30% globally and 70% in the US, where the team’s zero-to-hero story has captured viewers’ imaginations. Puma shares rose 2.4% yesterday, while Adidas fell slightly.
| Club | Kit Supplier | Value (€/m) | Value (£/m) | Deal closed | Deal ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man Utd | Adidas | 105 | 75 | 2014 | 2025 |
| Bayern | Adidas | 60 | 43 | 2015 | 2030 |
| Chelsea | Adidas | 42 | 30 | 2013 | 2023 |
| Arsenal | Puma | 42 | 30 | 2013 | 2018 |
| Real Madrid | Adidas | 38 | 27 | 2012 | 2020 |
| Liverpool | New Balance | 35 | 25 | 2012 | 2018 |
| Barcelona | Nike | 33 | 23 | 2008 | 2018 |
| Juventus | Adidas | 23 | 17 | 2013 | 2021 |
| Milan | Adidas | 20 | 14 | 2013 | 2023 |
| PSG | Nike | 20 | 14 | 2013 | 2022 |
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Mourinho in Mexico City
José Mourinho is certain he will be managing a club within two months and says he will sign a new contract by 30 June.
The 53-year-old Portuguese has been strongly linked with the Manchester United job but speaking from Mexico, he claimed to “know nothing” about a move to Old Trafford to replace Louis van Gaal.
Mourinho, who was fired as Chelsea manager in December, was back in the dugout on Wednesday in the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City to coach a Fifa Legends team, featuring Ronaldinho and Fabio Cannavaro, against a Mexican All-stars side.
Managing a team again, albeit for an exhibition before the Fifa Congress, had whetted Mourinho’s appetite for a return to coaching. “Of course I miss it,” Mourinho said. “In July I will be back. So we are in May. May to July is nothing. I keep enjoying my life which I’m doing, keep enjoying my family. But in July I am back.”
Asked when he needed to sign a contract by, the London-based Mourinho responded: “June 30 – that’s fine.”
Manchester United have not denied months of reports that Van Gaal will leave Old Trafford at the end of the season and be replaced by Mourinho, who coached Real Madrid, Internazional and Porto around his two stints at Chelsea.
Van Gaal’s United future looks bleaker with a fourth-place finish in the Premier League now out of the team’s hands. To qualify for the Champions League, United need to beat Bournemouth and rely on Manchester City losing to Swansea on the final day of the season on Sunday.
“I don’t know. I know nothing about it really,” Mourinho said, when asked about being hired by United. “I don’t have a club and I was waiting for these guys [the Fifa Legends] to win the match to give me a hand but because I lost the match [9-8] it’s even more difficult to get the club.”
The United director David Gill is also in Mexico City in his capacity as a Fifa vice-president. If Mourinho does resume employment in July he will not have officially been involved in planning for the club’s season.
“It’s difficult because when you get a new club in this period normally the clubs they did already their work,” Mourinho said. “I give you an example. I’m not the Chelsea manager but I organised the Chelsea pre-season in many aspects because I did that 10 months ago.
“Clubs have their commercial, marketing departments always involved in everything. When a new manager arrives in May, June it’s very difficult to touch in some points but we know that.”
But Mourinho said a late appointment would not affect his ability to identify and sign transfer targets before the start of the new season in August.
“Scouting is done during the year,” Mourinho said. “It’s not even a competition like the Euros where you are going to find by miracle some new talents. We know everybody, so it’s just a question of trying to choose the players that your team needs because the scouting, with our structures, we do it for many, many players.”
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
English Champion Has no Job
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| Getty Images |
José Mourinho, linked with an imminent move to replace Louis van Gaal at Manchester United, says he is happy to wait until the summer to make a return to football.
Pressure on Van Gaal eased briefly after United’s FA Cup win at Shrewsbury on Monday, but his side face another potential upset on Thursday in the return leg of their Europa League last-32 tie against Midtjylland, having lost the first leg 2-1.
On Saturday the Internazionale director Bedy Moratti suggested Mourinho had already agreed a deal to move to Manchester, with Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, continuing to deliberate over Van Gaal’s future.
Mourinho, though – speaking to students at an event in Singapore – said he was satisfied to wait for the “right project”, playing down talk of a return to management before May. “I always feel that it’s better to wait, not to rush, better to be calm, to wait for the right moment, the right move,” he said. “I feel that starting the next season with a new club and project is probably the best thing for me.
“I’m travelling, enjoying my family, enjoying my friends and my life, and I wait to see what happens. The reality is I like football so much, I miss football, and when I have the chance to be back I will come back.”
Mourinho, who was joined by his agent Jorge Mendes to speak to children at the NorthLight school as part of the Valencia chairman Peter Lim’s Olympic scholarship, added: “It’s quite a funny career. I am the English champion, and I still have no job.
“I read so many different things. One day it says I go to China, another day it says I go to Italy, and people say I’m back to Inter Milan. I’m here – probably, you are saying I will do the Singapore national team. But the reality is I have no job, and at the moment I’m happy not to have a job.”
When he was sacked by Chelsea in December, Mourinho’s representatives, CAA, suggested he would seek a quick return: “He will not be taking a sabbatical, he isn’t tired, he doesn’t need it, he is very positive, and is already looking forward. Each time represents for him the end of a cycle and the opportunity to start a new one. José hopes that his future after Chelsea this time will be as successful as when he left the club in 2007.”
Saturday, 20 February 2016
Mourinho Not Looking for Job...But
Jose Mourinho has claimed he is not looking for a new job at the moment, but says clubs are pursuing him.
The 53-year-old ended his second spell at Chelsea in December following a poor start to the campaign.
He has since been heavily linked with a return to the Premier League with Manchester United, who are currently managed by Louis van Gaal.
"My next club? I really do not know, but one thing is certain - I love football and I will return with the same passion and ambition I've always had," Mourinho told La Stampa.
"Right now I have respect for every coach at every club. I'm not looking for a club, but there are clubs that are looking for me."
I'm not looking for a club, but there are clubs that are looking for me.
Reports in Italy have suggested Mourinho could even return to Inter Milan, with whom he won the treble in 2010, as current head coach Roberto Mancini is struggling to secure a top-three finish in Serie A.
But Mourinho, ahead of a personal trip to Milan to watch the Nerazzurri play Sampdoria on Saturday, insisted he has no plans to return to the San Siro dugout.
He is hoping former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini and Inter president Erick Thohir can turn the club's fortunes around though.
Mourinho said: "There is one thing I want to clarify - I will not be directing things over there next season. Inter already have a project that belongs to Roberto Mancini and Erick Thohir.
"Their ideas have my full support and I hope their plans are successful. I want to see Inter fans smiling again and so I hope to witness a victory tomorrow."
It is understood Chelsea, who sacked Mourinho for the second time in eight years in December, have sent the Portuguese replica versions of the Premier League and Capital One Cup trophies he won last season, as well as a letter thanking him for his achievements.
Thursday, 11 February 2016
Manchester United Earnings on Course
Manchester United have announced a quarterly profit of £18.6m with a total revenue of £133.8m, up 26.6 per cent on the same period last year.
The results mean United remain on course to become the first British club to earn more than half a billion pounds in one year despite a disappointing campaign in the Premier League and early exit from the Champions League.
United's 1-1 draw at Chelsea on Sunday left them six points adrift of the top four with 13 matches remaining, but their their second-quarterly financial results released on Thursday showed the club expects revenue for the year to hit up to £510m. No British club in history has recorded such a figure.
Commercial revenue for the second quarter was £66.1m - an increase of 42.5 per cent on the previous year, while broadcasting revenues were also up 31.3 per cent and sponsorship revenue for the second quarter was up £1.6m to £37.4m.
United vice-chairman Ed Woodward said: "Our strong commitment to investing in our squad, youth academy and the broader club are ultimately underpinned by our financial strength and the hard work and dedication of everyone at the Club.
"Our solid results off the pitch help contribute to what remains our number one priority - success on the pitch."
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