Manchester United star Leo Ferdinand believes that the controversial statements made by former boss Jose Mourinho in the past have been proven so correct by time (aged so, so well). He apologized for blaming the Portuguese maniacs for his past mistakes and said he wanted to learn the truth about the Red Devils dressing room from the other side.
In the 2017/18 season coached by Mourinho, Manchester United finished second in the Premier League, 19 points behind champions Manchester City. At that time, Uncle Bird publicly said that leading Manchester United to a league runner-up was one of the biggest achievements of his coaching career. Red Devils fans were very unhappy about this, believing that the manager shirked his responsibilities.
In 2019, Mourinho said at his press conference: "If I told you that one of the best achievements of my coaching career was to lead Manchester United to second place in the Premier League, would you say this guy is crazy, he has won 25 titles, and he actually said that second place is the best achievement? But I say that all the time, and people don't know what's going on behind the scenes."
After The Sacking of Mourinho, United spent a few hundred million pounds on people, and the best result was second place, and various problems arose. The Red Devils have changed three coaches this season and are still missing the Champions League, with star Ferdinand saying: "I think Mourinho's quotes have become more and more correct over time. Personally, I would like to apologize to him for the way people have looked at him and judged him in the past."
Commenting on Mourinho's remarks, Ferdinand commented: "I still think that some of the ways and methods he handles people are flawed, but in terms of understanding the truth behind the scenes, he has found problems in 2019. We can now know that there have been some things that went wrong behind the scenes for Manchester United, but at the time we didn't know how serious it was. Obviously, Mourinho knows it."
Ferdinand added: "As everyone is saying now, Mourinho asked for a lot of players to be purged and some new players brought in. Obviously, the club was paying some players too much and he was probably thinking, 'Wow, wow, wow, what's going on?' I can see the flaws of certain players, I can see the flaws in the way the club is currently functioning. I want to change something." Unfortunately, the club did not listen to him. If I could, I would like to spend half an hour talking to Jose [Mourinho] about his time at Manchester United, understanding what he encountered at that time, which would be more detailed than what we actually saw, and then assessing where we are now. I think it's going to be very insightful."
In his first season at the helm of Manchester United, Mourinho won both the Europa League and the League Cup, which is still the Red Devils' most recent title. Since leaving Manchester United, Mourinho has coached Tottenham and Roma, both reaching cup finals, while Manchester United have only reached the final once in last season's Europa League.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand blasted Manchester United interim manager Ronnick for airing the club's dirty laundry in public. At the end-of-season press conference, Ronnick repeatedly bombarded the Red Devils' transfer operations, the team's defensive level and the physical condition of the players.
If it were in the Mourinho era, he should have been reprimanded by the outside world for publicly criticizing the club and players, but with the experience of the madman, fans now feel that the 63-year-old Lonnick is right. But Ferdinand believes that it is still not the right thing to do to discuss the club openly.
"I don't agree with the practice of throwing out all the dirty clothes when he was still in the Manchester United dressing room." "Sometimes the fans support it, they want to know the inside story, but he leaks some information that shouldn't be made public," Ferdinand said. You're still working for Manchester United, dude, relax and respect the people around you. You can do that behind the scenes, fighting for power. He had spoken a lot in the past few weeks, almost evading responsibility. He also has to take responsibility for the situation that United is in now, because the team has gotten worse since he took office."
Ferdinand expressed understanding of Ronnick's depression, but his publicly contradictory approach would not please the top management, which was not conducive to the subsequent consultant work. "A lot of his success at previous clubs has been the transfer of players. He was appointed manager to coach Manchester United and lead the team to the Premier League and champions league, where he failed undeniablely. But then he shirked his responsibilities everywhere, which is something I find a little annoying." "He was first hired as a consultant, and although he was the manager first, in the long run, his task was to plan the transfer behind the scenes," Ferdinand said.
"He offered some names of new signings that he thought could have a huge impact immediately, but he didn't get support, and I think that's why he's frustrated. He referred to Liverpool's Luis Díaz and Juventus' Vlahovic, while United did not act, saying the board refused a transfer because they wanted to wait until the summer window. He's puzzled and disappointed about that, but honestly, if I were a club, I wouldn't have allowed him to have another press conference. I don't want to disclose these insiders, if I'm at the top, I'll remind him: come talk to us, not publicly, you may not agree with our approach, but you are an employee of the club and you can't break the line. Now his statement, I'm sure, will stunned the board."