Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Ding-dong, the witch is sacked! After a miserable first half of the season for Manchester United fans, Jose Mourinho was finally given the boot after being embarrassed 3-1 by arch-rivals Liverpool.
The Portuguese, 55, took over in May 2016 and led United to League Cup and Europa League titles, but after the Anfield thrashing were 19 points behind their north-west rivals.
The club felt a change was in order after no progress with results or style despite spending nearly £400m on 11 players. Many of the first-team squad were unhappy, too.
Personally, watching the Liverpool game last Sunday was painful, but in some ways, it was a necessary suffering. Growing up, the endless list of successes and trophies made it easy to lord it over my Scouse mates on the playground and many playful football arguments were easy to win.
Now, the boot is on the other foot and there’s no scope to bite back after watching such a dreadful performance. However, with the news of the sacking the next day, it somehow felt like it was a defeat that had to happen. For the board to realise that they were on a toxic path with little hope of revitalisation.
So out went Jose, and in came Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one of my all-time United heroes. In one game, he achieved something David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Mourinho couldn’t do between them in almost five and a half seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson retired - he managed a United team that scored five times in a Premier League game.
Indeed, ‘it’s only Cardiff’ and there are much sterner tests to come, but to see the players striding forward confidently, attacking with gleeful abandon and most importantly of all, playing with a smile on their face, meant so much more than the result.
Solksjaer is the interim coach until the end of the season, but if he can improve the players and raise their confidence, then he’ll have a fantastically-talented squad to hand over to the next permanent manager, whoever he may be.
As for Mourinho, whats next? It’s hard to see any top clubs taking him on knowing the baggage he brings with him, so my prediction is a long break followed by taking the Portuguese national team job which he has long coveted.
