Jose Mourinho is now searching for a new job with a healthy CV to show for his work having been sacked by Roma
As Jose Mourinho clears his desk in the manager's office at Roma he may be wondering what lies ahead.
In many other professions, reaching the milestone of 60 years of age causes people to think about winding down after long careers - but football is different. Since rising to the top of the game with Porto, he has led six more clubs across seven stints having managed Chelsea twice.
Mourinho is a serial winner who knows the route to success and what he needs to get his hands on silverware. Two Champions League trophies, eight domestic titles and four world's men's best coach awards adorn his CV.
But he is clear when he says that finishing second in the Premier League with Manchester United during the 2017/18 season was one his greatest achievements. The club finished 19 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City, which meant his comments were scoffed at by a number of supporters.
Mourinho had won the Europa League and League Cup in his first season but was ultimately sacked a week before Christmas in 2018 following rifts with the board and a few headline-grabbing press conferences.
Speaking in 2019 shortly after his appointment at Tottenham, Mourinho said: "People might say: 'This guy is crazy, he won 25 titles and now he says that second position with United was one of his best achievements in football'. I keep saying this because people don't know what is going on behind the scenes."
A discrepancy of vision and funds regarding transfers plus a lack of youth promotion all led to the board calling time on his stay. Stories of discord and inept leadership within the United hierarchy under other managers post-Sir Alex Ferguson have been well profiled in the years since.
The Glazers have appointed five permanent managers since Fergie retired, a figure that stretches to eight once caretaker bosses are factored in. The disdain towards the owners reached fever pitch amid the 2021 Super League breakaway attempt and has only deepened amid the recent prolonged takeover process.
Erik ten Hag's position is not as sturdy as it was six months ago, but many fans and ex-players have called for the Americans and new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to give the current head coach time - something that Mourinho felt he was cheated of.
"The first club where I felt I need time and time was not given was at Manchester United, because I felt that I left at the middle of the process, but I learned very early to respect decisions, which I did at United," he said in 2020.
This respect was also tinged with frustration as his time at Old Trafford stalled towards the end of his employment. He lamented his belief that the club did not always back his direction and that the set-up was not always conducive in helping the manager be his best.
"We are not any more in a time when the coach by himself is powerful enough to cope," he said when speaking about United in 2019. "The coach nowadays needs a structure, he needs a club organised in a certain way.
"The club must have an owner or a president, a CEO or executive director, a football director and then the manager. This is the structure that can cope with all the problems modernity is bringing all of us."
Mourinho ultimately managed 144 United matches across his two-and-a-half year stint and was the last boss to lift silverware at Old Trafford until Ten Hag broke the streak six seasons later. The Portuguese may feel as though the wait for that trophy would not have been had he been given the time and space he wanted.
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