Jose Mourinho’s problems exceeded his talent

“Jose Mourinho lost the dressing room.” “He alienated players.” “He didn’t get the best out of them.” “Manchester United played unattractive football.” “Fans grew tired of the poor performances.” All of these statements are true when it comes to the Portuguese manager’s time at Manchester United.

Therefore Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward had no choice but to fire Mourinho, yes for those reasons, but they’re proximate causes.

When it comes to any job, there are only two reasons, ultimate causes, to fire someone.

One, you’re bad for business. Two, your problems exceed your talent. Jose Mourinho ticked both boxes at Manchester United this year.

Business is really simple. You make money for the company and you have a job. You lose money for the company and they’ll fire you. It really is that easy. Mourinho mismanaged hundreds of millions in the transfer market during his tenure.

Paul Pogba, a 2018 World Cup winner who scored in the final no less, cost £89 million and didn’t play against the undefeated, league-leading, historical enemy, and rival Liverpool in their Premier League clash.

Not only did he remain on the bench, he never even warmed up along the touchline. United’s record signing and arguably their most talented player never even stretched his legs to play in one of the biggest games of the season.

Moreover, he’s missed games this year already “through injury”, was embarrassingly substituted off at times, and started other games on the bench. 89 million down the drain.

Romelu Lukaku who cost £75 million also has started on the bench far too often this year, usually with poor performance stated as the reason. Why is he even there?

Alexis Sanchez did go to Manchester on a swap deal with Arsenal so he didn’t cost anything in a transfer fee but instead receives huge wages, between 300k and 400k pounds a week, making him the highest paid player England. He hasn’t stepped on the field in a month because of injury, but he didn’t start regularly before that anyway.

Huge fees, massive wages, high profiles, and none of them make one iota of a difference on the field for England’s most storied and successful club.

Mourinho didn’t miscalculate on just these three big-name players who get all the attention either. When he first got to United, he brought in Eric Bailly for £30 million and Victor Lindelof for just shy of £31 million. After three years, neither are mainstays in the defence. In midfield, £50 million for Fred this past summer and he barely plays.

In three years, Mourinho spent nearly £400 million all to no avail. Almost 400 million and no consistency, no production, and no improvement. In actuality, regression.

At least in his first season with the club, they won a “treble” as Mourinho put it, by winning the Community Shield, League Cup, and Europa League. However nothing in his second year. This was his third year and most likely no trophies either based on United's on-field performance.

After all this worthless spending, Ed Woodward lost trust in Mourinho. Why give him more money to buy players either this January or next summer? It’s unjustifiable. Mourinho proved over three summer transfer windows that he couldn’t spend wisely or effectively. He didn’t deserve any more money or chances.

The only transfer you could argue has “worked” would be Nemanja Matic at £40 million. He’s not as good as he was at Chelsea but virtually undroppable in the middle.

Mourinho’s best transfer in, Zlatan, was a free and it was always going to be short term because of his age.

Without a director of football overseeing transfers, Ed Woodward was caught between a rock and a hard place. Give more money to the manager to spend wildly or fire him. Woodward knew time was up. He couldn’t confidently hand any more money to Mourinho which meant there was no point in keeping Mourinho on as the manager.

On top of proving a poor steward of United’s finances, Jose Mourinho committed the ultimate business sin. He pissed off fans, aka customers, so much that they stopped spending money on the brand that is Manchester United.

For two of their three home Champions League games, the Red Devils struggled to sell out, with tickets still available the day of against Valencia and tickets available the day before against Young Boys, very rare for United or any big club. The fans had enough with negative tactics, the dressing room tensions, and the mediocre results that attending a game did not appeal to them.

Even though the opponents were Young Boys and Valencia, these were still Champions League games, Europe’s and quite possibly the world’s premier club competition. And the fans decided it wasn’t worth it. They didn’t want to waste their time getting to and from the stadium, paying for a ticket, beer, food, and a babysitter.

The matchday experience became so unappealing under Mourinho that it turned off the fans. It drove them away. Unacceptable at any business.

Jose Mourinho’s position of manager at Manchester United became untenable and after the Liverpool game, Woodward had no options left but to fire him. Mourinho was bad for business. He abysmally spent millions on player transfers and angered fans so much that they stopped showing up to the stadium.

But imagine this. Keeping all the problems with the players, the dressing room, the fans, and the money, what if Manchester United won the Premier League or the Champions League last year? Would Mourinho still be the manager now? Arguably yes.

What if United wasn’t 19 points back of Liverpool atop the table? Or not 11 points back of the top 4? Would the players, fans, and board be able to stomach the chaos? Again, arguably yes.

Clay Travis, a sports broadcaster I love, says it best, “If your problems exceed your talent, you won’t be employed” and he couldn’t be more right.

Cristiano Ronaldo is facing allegations of rape from 2009 and he’s still employed at Juventus. He still has his sponsors. He’s still on the cover of FIFA. His problems don’t exceed his talent. In reverse, his talent exceeds his problems, therefore, he is employed.

A group of Arsenal players were filmed inhaling, albeit legal, drugs in a nightclub just before this season started. And what consequences did they face? Virtually none. Their collective talent exceeds their problems. So, they’re still employed.

And go outside of soccer. Ron Washington was an admitted cocaine user, but he managed the Texas Rangers to two straight World Series. His talent exceeded his problems.

And the NFL has countless examples of players having more talent than problems and still playing in the league.

If Jose Mourinho’s talent had exceeded his problems, then he would still be the Manchester United manager. If they had won the Premier League or the Champions League, he’d still be on the touchline. But that wasn’t the case so he’s out.

If your talent exceeds your problems, you’ll always have a job. But if your problems exceed your talent, you won’t be employed.

Every argument I’ve heard in the media as to why Jose Mourinho got fired, whether because he lost the dressing room, poor on-field performance, or others, are all proximate causes. Yes, those are true. When you look deeper though, you see the ultimate causes and reasons he got fired.

Jose Mourinho was bad for Manchester United’s business and his problems exceeded his talent. Either one is grounds for termination. Mourinho truly is The Special One because he checked off both.