4 Painful Parallels between Moyes and Mourinho

#1 Media presence

Manchester United Press Conference

A United manager is expected to be a role model for the league and other clubs across the world. Such was the image portrayed by the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby, two of the most successful managers of all time at Old Trafford. However, under Moyes, the press conferences seemed as woeful as the team’s performance on the pitch.

Moyes almost never backed up his players and the press were seeing more negatives in Moyes’ speech than in his managerial style, both of which, only piled on to an already pathetic season.

Moyes was never known to be a manager who was a hit with the media unlike Klopp, Guardiola or even Mourinho for that matter, but the telling impact of the poor performances on the pitch was only validated by the then United manager’s mood in front of the cameras.

Mourinho is a legendary manager no doubt. One aspect that forms the building blocks for the legend of ‘The Special One’, is his tactful management of the media. He is known to call out players and issue something of an open challenge to them in the media in a bid to get the best out of them.

However, this isn’t necessarily working to his advantage off-late and is contributing to a dull mood at Carrington and Old Trafford. Maybe the ex-Chelsea boss’ media tactics are finally wearing out, maybe he is seeing positive responses from his players by his own scale or maybe its plain frustration.

The fact remains, this is painfully similar, in whatever measure, to the short-lived era of David Moyes.

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In conclusion, let’s not forget that we are talking about Jose Mourinho here. One of the most admired, successful and unique managers of our time. This is a man who won the 2004 UEFA Champions League with Porto, with all due respect.

He has had many feats that are a testimony to his managerial style, success rate and strong people skills to get the best out of his players. He is a thoroughbred manager if there ever was one. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that he would be an instant success at the biggest club in the world.

What the season of 2018-19 holds for United is still unclear with the club making as few as three transfers so far, BUT, this is The Special One we are talking about. He won the Champions League with Porto where they shouldn’t have had a prayer. Will he turn things around at United or will the curse have the final say?