Mourinho: Why Moyes failed at Manchester United

Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho has said David Moyes did not succeed at the club because he took over just as the Premier League was becoming ultra-competitive.


Mourinho, who turned down the chance to replace Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, said the Scot had a difficult task on his hands at United.

Moyes returns to Old Trafford on Boxing Day for the first time, since he was sacked by United in April 2014, after only 10 months in charge.

Mourinho, however, said Moyes inherited a decent squad from his compatriot.

“I wouldn’t mind to be at a club with great expectations, but to have Ryan Giggs and ‘Chicharito’ [Javier Hernandez] and [Nemanja] Vidic still in the team, [Patrice] Evra too… I wouldn’t mind,” Mourinho said.

“I don’t feel it [United’s expectation] as a burden. I feel the great history of the club as only a positive thing and not a negative thing. The problem is whether you have the conditions to follow that success of history. If not, then that’s a different story.

“There are generations and in a certain period, when David came, the situation was not so easy to go in that winning direction. At the same time — I think this is even more important — the Premier League was changing.

“Periods of domination now belong to the past because the Premier League was going already in an incredible direction and it is what it is now”, he added.