Mourinho claims ex-Man Utd chief was ‘fish out of water’; Ratcliffe warned against appointment

Lewis Oldham
Mourinho on Man Utd
Jose Mourinho comments on ex-Manchester United figure.

Jose Mourinho has suggested that ex-Manchester United chief Ed Woodward was a “fish out of water” as he was “unprepared” for his role at Old Trafford.

Mourinho spent two and a half years as Man Utd boss before leaving towards the end of 2016. During this spell, he helped them win the Europa League, Carabao Cup and Community Shield.

The former Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur manager worked with Woodward at Old Trafford.

Woodward was consistently criticised during his time at Man Utd and one of his worst deals came about in 2016 as he negotiated the £89m signing of Paul Pogba from Serie A giants Juventus.

His time at United came to an end at the beginning of 2022 as he was replaced by Richard Arnold. His successor did not last too long as Sir Jim Ratcliffe has brought in Omar Berrada to become their new chief executive.

Mourinho has now suggested that Woodward was a “fish out of water” and he’s revealed what he found “difficult” at Man Utd.

“I don’t think the media helped me,” Mourinho told Rio Ferdinand via the Vibe with Five podcast. “I don’t think it was meant with an intention of hurting; I think it was more that people didn’t understand the dimension of the job and the potential difficulties.

“Also, the fact the coach was in a hybrid position because in the years before everything was very, very clear; of course ownership, but also Sir Alex [Ferguson] and David Gill. That was changing and the structure was not a very fluid structure.

“When people criticise Ed Woodward’s job, I don’t like it because, for me, he is a good man. He was just a man that was probably not like a fish in the water. He was very intelligent, very polite, very correct, but probably not prepared for the sports side.

“It was difficult for a coach not to have a direct communication with the ownership. It was also difficult for a coach not to have a structure that shares the same principles and the same ideas, which was not easy with consequences at many levels.”

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Mourinho has been linked with a return to Man Utd of late but former striker Louis Saha does not believe it would be “great timing” for him to succeed Erik ten Hag at this point.

“I respect José Mourinho’s pedigree and history in management, but it’s really difficult to predict what’s going to happen in football,” Saha told Betfred.

“We should all focus on Erik ten Hag’s mission at Manchester United because it would be disrespectful for me to speculate about a big name like Mourinho coming back to Old Trafford.

“Everybody could say that Mourinho could come back to Manchester United and be successful because nobody should doubt the guy as he’s still a terrific manager.

“I believe Erik ten Hag is doing a brilliant job at the moment and it’s not great timing to discuss other managers taking over at Manchester United. As a fan, I don’t believe speculation will contribute anything positive to the team.”