Manchester United and their grounds for divorce from Jose Mourinho

Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, to borrow two examples, who, as I write this, sit beneath United in the Premier League, and are further beneath them when it comes to financial clout, are well ahead in terms of flair, attacking prowess and entertainment value.

They each have a manager the United fans would bite your hand off for. It’s these attributes that Manchester United fans are being deprived of. The board of the club can’t say they weren’t warned. Many in the media remember Mourinho’s glory days at Chelsea where watching his victorious teams felt like watching wet paint dry.

But such was United’s hunger for the return of the diet of silverware regularly served up by Sir Alex Ferguson, coupled with the disastrous appointments in the wake of his departure, that they overlooked the small, but significant fact that the way a team plays matters a great deal to a club with United’s pedigree.

Yet this didn’t form any part of the appointment process. The club wanted a marquee name and a serial winner. There was no discussion about the spectator’s need for antidepressants by half-time.

Only Bobby Charlton saw what was coming. He’s been taking indigestion tablets ever since.

There are two things going on with this United team at the moment. Either they are not good enough which I doubt is the case, although Mourinho should have been sued under the Trades Description Act for calling Paul Pogba the ‘complete midfield player’ when it is obvious to the rest of us that in midfield the man is a complete failure.

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And I won’t say anything about Marouane Fellaini who sometimes looks as if he’d be better off pursuing a career as a windmill. Or, the players are not buying into Mourinho’s vision and I think it’s the latter.

To use my Tottenham and Liverpool comparisons again, it is clear to see how the players here are pulling for their manager, they believe in him and his philosophy. There’s a togetherness, a smile on their faces.

But at United you don’t see this. What you see instead is discontented body language, the shackles are on, and woe betide any player who gets ridiculous notions of entertainment, attacking flair, or taking on the opposition in an open game of football.