Manchester may be home to Britain’s best-loved and longest-running soap opera, but it’s soon to play host to a new drama that Eamon Dunphy believes will make for compelling viewing.
Louis van Gaal’s official departure from the Old Trafford hot seat has paved the way for Jose Mourninho’s return to English football after his second spell in charge of Chelsea ended in December.
Dunphy is relishing the prospect of Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, who will take the reins at rivals Manchester City, locking horns next season as both men had a heated rivalry during their time in charge of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“It’s going to be great because Guardiola will be the other side of Manchester,” Dunphy told listeners on 2fm’s Game On. “For the soap opera aspect of football, if you’re a Man U fan, well, fasten your seatbelt baby!”
Despite the Portuguese manager’s intimidating CV, Dunphy believes the challenge he faces at Manchester United will prove to be an onerous one.
“I think it’s intriguing,” he said.
“I think it’s a mistake. I think it will end badly. I don’t think they have the players to allow him to do what he wants to do, and what do you do without players?
“Will he have the time will he take the time to develop a squad? Will he have the money to buy the kind of players that he needs?
“When he went to Chelsea he had John Terry, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech. He does not have that quality at Old Trafford. He does not have a strong spine in his team. Therefore, I think he’s got it all to do.”
Mourinho has proven to be a controversial figure in the dugout and the veteran pundit doesn’t see that changing anytime soon, as he asserted: “When the going gets tough, and he can’t get his own way, he becomes a bully, and then he becomes a baby and he sulks. He can’t manage himself on the touchline.”
“I think he had to go" Eamon Dunphy on Louis van Gaal
The former Republic of Ireland international also believes circumstances have forced Manchester United and Mourinho into one another’s arms.
“It’s a marriage of convenience with a desperate superpower of a club which has got a share price and American owners,” Dunphy mused.
“I don’t think Bobby Charlton and Alex Ferguson were in this decision. There has been informed speculation that they don’t have the clout any more to have any influence on the board. So now they’ve turned in desperation to a guy with a track record.
“If he didn’t go to Manchester United, where would Mourinho go to get real ammo to be a top coach again?
“He’s burned his bridges in Spain and there are only two clubs there that he would think worth managing and he couldn’t manage either of them. There’s nothing happening in Italy - nobody has any money. Bayern Munich wouldn’t touch him with a bargepole - they’ve appointed Ancelotti. So he’d nowhere to go and they’d nowhere to go.”
Reflecting on LVG’s demise, Dunphy said: “They were poor all season and they didn’t qualify for the Champions League.
“There was no sign that they were getting better. And the players that he bought, on the whole, have not produced. Some of them have turned out to be absolutes duds. Memphis and Rojo would be two that spring instantly to mind.
“I think he had to go.
“Manchester United fans and some of the players, by all accounts, didn’t like him, didn’t like his methods, and I must say, I never thought the team played.
“I thought he was full of spoof when he was interviewed and he seemed to know something the rest of us didn’t.”
