Jose Mourinho’s feud with Paul Pogba added to his downfall – now Man Utd star can flourish without his doom-mongering
It is clear that Portuguese's axing is much to do with a dysfunctional relationship with his £89million club-record signing
THERE was a time when Jose Mourinho could take an ‘ordinary’ midfielder and propel him on to the podium at Ballon d’Or awards night.
This season he has encountered an inspirational World Cup winner in Paul Pogba and turned him into a disillusioned bench-warmer.
When Mourinho arrived in English football he famously got in the showers with Frank Lampard and told him he was the best player on the planet.
That season Lampard finished second, behind Ronaldinho, in the World Player of the Year voting as Chelsea rumbled imperiously to the title.
These days, the only shower scenes Mourinho is likely to be involved in are of the Norman Bates variety.
So, as the claret disappears down the gurgler and we reflect on another Mourinho axing, it is clear that this one owed much to a dysfunctional relationship with his £89million club-record signing.
These were two men from different ages. Pogba, the fresh prince of Instagram, against Mourinho, the last great black-and-white king of the roaring back-page headline.
It began with United’s social-media ‘#Pogback’ campaign as both men arrived at Old Trafford in 2016.
“You do one as well!” responded Gary Neville, the last loyalist standing guard outside the bunker.
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Those who have continued lauding Mourinho are praising the Mourinho of the past and not the current version, outdated as a tactician and a man-manager, spitting venom at all things youthful and exuberant.
Pogba deleted his Instagram post soon after but the United board had erased his nemesis.
And while it is easy to berate Pogba, Mourinho has failed in his most important task — motivating young multi-millionaires.
Pogba is determined to enjoy his wealth and celebrity. The more powerful the glare of publicity, the more expensive the shades.
He did not win the World Cup by posing, though. He helped France’s triumph with some inspirational performances on and off the field, such as his team talk before the final against Croatia.
Yet by the end of his bog-standard two-and-a-half-year reign, Mourinho could find no room for such a world-beater in this, the worst Manchester United team for 30 years, leaving Pogba on the bench throughout Sunday’s humiliation at Anfield.
It wasn’t all about Pogba — Mourinho had fallen out with the vast majority of his squad.
Alexis Sanchez, a marquee signing snatched away from City and announced with great fanfare, disappeared with barely a trace.
Half-a-million pounds a week for a player introduced as a concert pianist, but who ended up resembling Les Dawson mangling Chopsticks.
Mourinho, the devilish mastermind who once smuggled himself into the Chelsea dressing-room in a laundry basket to defy a Uefa ban, had taken to washing his dirty linen in public.
For it’s not that Mourinho lacked power and influence over his players’ performances.
It’s simply the positive thinking he used to inspire Lampard had been replaced by negative doom-mongering which became self-fulfilling prophecy.
When Mourinho criticised Pogba’s lifestyle this summer, rather than offering fulsome praise for his World Cup heroics, the Frenchman became increasingly distracted.
When Mourinho publicly slated his defenders, United stopped being able to defend.
They have conceded 29 Premier League goals this season, and defending is what Mourinho teams are supposed to be good at.
And when he suggested that a squad he had spent £300m upon couldn’t match Manchester City and Liverpool, they were smashed by City and Liverpool, ending up light years behind both and adrift of the Champions League places.
In recent weeks Mourinho even suggested finishing sixth would be acceptable.
By the dog days of his reign, Mourinho couldn’t even get a dreaded vote of confidence from the board, instead relying on his agent Jorge Mendes to go all Neville Chamberlain and declare happiness in our time, with a weird public statement.
But for the second time in three years, the old Grinch copped a Christmas-week sacking and a sackful of compensation cash.
Once the deed was done poor old Ed Woodward was left wondering who to call first — Laurent Blanc, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or the council fumigation service.
There’s little point trying to mark the moment when the gloom became impenetrable. It would be easier to locate the occasional shafts of light.
The fortuitous 2017 League Cup final victory over Southampton, swiftly followed by another trophy in a weak Europa League field.
Then a best Premier League campaign of the post-Fergie era, as they finished second last season, and some impressive noose-slipping comebacks.
Yet these are not the snapshots of Mourinho’s United reign which will be best remembered. Instead the ‘defiant’ applause and shrill demands for respect after a home thrashing by Tottenham.
The smashing of a crate of water bottles after a late winner against Young Boys.
The ear-cupping which followed another comeback in Turin and the staged rebuking of Pogba in front of TV cameras at training.
These all looked like the work of a ham actor, playing a B-movie version of his former self.
A crass and classless self-parody, devoid of soul or depth.
Mourinho arrived in Manchester as Pep Guardiola’s supposed rival. He leaves with no comparison even feasible.
Mourinho’s sacking will not solve all United’s problems.
They must become a modern club, with a director of football and a scouting and recruitment system which is fit for purpose.
They must rediscover the simple truth that on-field performance is at the core of their ‘brand’ and, in time, everything will crumble without thrilling, winning football.
Thrilling, winning football which Mourinho was never likely to bring — but which Pogba might still be central to.