After winning the Champions League last season, Fergie claimed he would withdraw from the Theatre of Dreams within three years, leaving United with a manager-shaped hole to fill. Today, a certain high-profile football manager with plenty of experience at the height of the game, has said that he would be returning to the Premier League in the next few years.
After Inter I will return to England, but I want to win here first.
I have a contract with Inter, but when that finishes I will definitely return to the Premier League, I like it a lot.
The length of Mourinho’s contract? Three years. Just in time for United to look for a new boss.
This could be seen as pure coincidence, but it is backed up by Rio Ferdinand’s recent comments about who could replace Fergie:
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand says only one man could replace current manager Sir Alex Ferguson: ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho (Mail on Sunday)
Ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho was never a true nemesis of Ferguson’s, and United fans may take a shine to the Portuguese manager, especially due to his frosty relationship with Arsene Wenger.
He was also a hit with the media due to his outgoing and controverisal comments. It would be great for the Premiership if he were to return, and it would be unlikely he would go to a team that was not competing in the Champions League. Chelsea are extremely unlikely to go back to Jose, especially after starting so well with Big Phil Scolari. Arsenal would not take him on after his feud with Wenger. Liverpool may consider removing Rafa Benitez, but Liverpool fans do not seem keen after his comments about them being a small club and bitterness about the ‘goal that never was’ in the 2005 Champions League semi-final.
And that leaves Manchester United…
Whether this is all highly coincidental remains to be seen, but I’m sure some United fans would love for it to be true.