Man United's next season will define Mourinho's future in club football

London, June 8: The struggles of Manchester United, the most successful club in English football, since the retirement of most probably the best manager in club football and definitely in Premier League era, Sir Alex Ferguson, have been well documented.

All leagues special site

And it was due to such problems that the club spent big money on players and brought in Jose Mourinho to get it back on track. Following their decision, they now have a League Cup and Europa League trophies to show for it.

With the latter getting the red devils back to into the prestigious UEFA Champions League, as United failed to get into the top four in the Premier League which is the other way of getting into Europe's elite competition.

While this might be considered a good return on investment at other clubs, this is not how Mourinho would have imagined his first year in charge at United, a job he openly coveted. He had started the season saying that he wants to be champion at the end of it. Not only was that not achieved, it wasn't done so by a long way.

Though there is a definite improvement from the time of the managers that followed Ferguson, the current season has left the club at the edge when it comes to the future of the club and their manager.

This along with the last season at Real Madrid which ended trophyless, and the way he was fired from the Chelsea hot seat less than a year after he won the title with them, have left Mourinho at a stage he has never been at earlier, with the outcome of next season likely to decide whether he will continue his football coaching career at club level or not.

Success next season will ensure that he continues at one of the richest and most successful clubs in modern day football, a failure would mean that not only will he have to move on but in all probability would also have to either go to a club like PSG in France or somewhere similar where winning the title is a two or what is worse a one horse race, and which the Portuguese, has already talked about disliking, or finally take a step towards national team management.

Though such a possible change might not sound a lot, either of these two steps would definitely be seen as quite a fall from grace for a man who is not only a multiple champions league winner but also the only manager to have won the league title in three of the toughest leagues in Europe, England, Spain and Italy along with Portugal.

And was also widely considered as the best manager in the world, and done so by many even now, but has seen the number of contenders for such a title having increased since when he dominated the spotlight all by himself.

What he has to deliver?

But Mourinho being Mourinho, will want to have it back on himself, and given his successes in his career, there is no doubt that he can. To achieve this though he is going to need certain results next season that is going to shut his critics up for good.

The first of these is a serious title challenge in the Premier League. Even if they don't win United will have to come up with a show which is deemed worthy by not only the board of the club but also the demanding fans.

And to demand such a thing won't be too much to ask if the amount of obscene money that has been put into player recruitment since Ferguson's retirement and especially under Mourinho's reign so far, which is sure to get even higher before the start of the new season.

Such a demand would not necessarily be considered a problem since he has had the same expectations throughout his career, but what can become an added problem for him, would be the style of play demanded by the Old Trafford faithful.

This means wave after wave of attacks while playing a style of entertaining football reminiscent of the times under Ferguson.

Though it has been claimed that Mourinho has changed his style this season from his previous, successful but defensive minded, teams in different countries, he will continue to have to go against his instincts of building teams which are well drilled in counter attack but based on defensive solidity.

A serious performance in the Champions League would also have to be put in so that the club can get back at a level where they expect to be. Mourinho himself is known to be one of the top performers when it comes to the competition and would want his own performance as well as the club's to match such expectations. Even if he doesn't the fans are going to demand it.

And these would need to be backed up by at least some more trophies in the cabinet like this year, as these were the very reason that the campaign which just ended has been treated as a reasonable one rather than a failure.

What problems will he face?

Though these would not sound that difficult when looking at the pedigree of the club and it's manager, such performances and results are going to be anything but easy, especially since other teams are also going to get better before the start of the new season.

And they have already started, with teams signing players which are going to make them better. For Mourinho, the excuse of not being able to sign players of his choice, as he has made at his previous clubs, won't fly at United as the cash that is going to be thrown out for new signings would mean they will most probably get every player that it wants.

Other than this, the main teams and managers that are going to make his aims difficult to achieve are the newly crowned champions Chelsea, and their Italian manager Antonio Conte, as well as Mourinho's old nemesis from his time in Spain, Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City team.

While Conte has already outshone Mourinho by taking the Chelsea team that finished nowhere near the top in the season that he was fired into table toppers during his first season in charge, his rivalry with Guardiola is all set to be re-ignited with the City manager all set to make a charge for trophies on multiple fronts after suffering his first trophyless season.

In addition to these, the Manchester United way of playing might also prove a considerable hurdle for Mourinho to cross.

Given that till now his team have been successful mostly on the back of their defensive solidity which has ensured that even if they don't always score the highest number of goals they definitely concede the least.

A compromise on this, in an attempt to win the hearts of the United fans, might throw a wrench in his proven method of success.

What might happen?

Given all this, it makes matters for Mourinho anything but simple. But one thing, that might give him and his supporters confidence is that he has won the league title in the second season, at every club he has been at. This happened at Porto, the first time he was at Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and again at Chelsea during his second reign.
So while this would be good news for him and his club, such a feat is going to be the toughest to achieve till date given the number of genuine title contenders that the Premier League is set to witness next season.

If he is able to achieve the aims set out for next season, in particular, if he wins the league title, he will not only revive the Mourinho legend but also get the club back at a level it has become so used to, and would have delivered on the expectation that he was brought in with.

And in the case he is unable to do so, not only will the axe be not too far away from falling, the standing of Mourinho as one of the best managers around will become that of the past, with current rivals, and the new and younger managers who have found success, stealing the limelight from Mourinho and will make him think seriously about his future in club football.

No matter what the outcome next season, it would take a brave person to bet against the Portuguese tactician at this stage given his history of success.

But one thing is for certain, that the next season for Mourinho has much more at stake than any other regular season would for a manager. It is going to either fortify the Mourinho legend or make it a thing of the past and one no longer to be feared.

OneIndia News