You know who I blame for Sir Alex Ferguson deciding it’s time to retire? Jose Mourinho.
Fergie has talked in a beautiful, endearing way about how he wants to be with his wife, who has supported him for years. It was emotional just listening to him.
But for me the possible arrival of Jose back at Chelsea precipitated the end for the greatest manager English football has seen.
If you think that is absurd consider this: Mourinho’s return would present him with a challenge to knock Manchester United off their perch. Chelsea have been Premier League champions and they’ve been European champions. So what could Mourinho offer?
A chance to take over from United permanently as the dominant force in the Premier League and Europe.
That is Mourinho’s challenge, should he choose to accept it, rather than messing around with pay-offs and financial issues. (If he loved Chelsea, money wouldn’t be a problem, surely?)
Ferguson has every right to turn that challenge down. He is interested in football, not soundbites and enigmatic press conferences.
He is also not interested in any touchline nonsense.
The last time Mourinho was asked to end the dominance of another club was when he took over at Real Madrid. He had no chance of doing it with football, so he poked a coach in the eye, called Barcelona cheats, and left Pep Guardiola so disillusioned with football he gave up.
If Mourinho is happy doing that to Guardiola, he won’t shirk from trying similar tactics with Ferguson. The great man is right to go out with dignity, rather than being dragged down to Mourinho’s level.
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Roberto Mancini had to go.Millions of pounds hasn’t been pumped into Manchester City for the owners to be let down and humiliated the way they were at Wembley on Saturday.Nearly two years ago his City side went to Spurs and absolutely wiped the floor with them, putting on a breathtaking show of total football which resulted in a 5-1 win.The FA Cup final was a different story; the players just didn’t look interested. After Mancini got personal and public with the criticism of the likes of Joe Hart and Samir Nasri, he lost his powers. Players don’t like it when their team-mates are given a public battering by the manager. That City squad knows how valuable Hart has been (and after Ben Foster single-handedly kept Norwich up this weekend England fans should treasure the No 1 as well), and they will have felt the injustice of Mancini’s criticisms of the goalie. Game over: Manchester City were beaten in the FA Cup final by Wigan before Roberto Mancini was sacked And just six weeks ago Mancini angered his captain and arguably most reliable and professional player, Vincent Kompany, by suggesting publicly that the centre half had defied his orders by playing for Belgium.Mancini’s man-management has been dreadful.When he spotted that City needed width at Wembley halfway through the first half, he called Nasri over and told him to stay wide on the left. Nasri immediately created a chance, but then the whole team reverted to their sloppy ways and I was left asking if they really wanted to do it for Mancini.The City fans I have spoken to still refuse to criticise the manager because for them, two trophies in three seasons is like living in dreamland after decades of pain. But City shouldn’t be losing to Wigan in a final, and they shouldn’t be going out of the Champions League at the group stage. Wrong move: Samir Nasri (left) and Joe Hart were both publicly criticised by Mancini I’m astonished some Man City fans don’t seem to share the same ambition as their owners. Those fans seem content to be second to United, or not winning games in Europe. Makes you wonder if the Sheikh chose the right club to buy. If the fans don’t demand more from the players, they won’t get it. If the manager’s only method is to publicly lambast players, they won’t run through brick walls for him.Something at City needed to change because they’re all going through the motions right now.Mancini has made history at Manchester City. But he simply wasn’t the man to take the club where the owners want it to be. Would you want to work for someone who has sued you in the past?I wouldn’t and if I could get a similar job somewhere else I would probably try to.David Moyes sued Wayne Rooney, his publisher and his writer for libel over things written in the player’s autobiography. It is the only time a manager has sued a former player and it was settled before trial with a Rooney apology and £500,000 of costs and damages.Rooney telephoned Moyes to apologise and the new Manchester United manager felt at the time it was a sincere apology. History: David Moyes (right) sued former Everton striker Wayne Rooney over comments in his autobiographyRooney had called Moyes overbearing and controlling, Moyes claimed he was merely trying to handle a young player in the way Sir Alex Ferguson had handled the early years of Ryan Giggs.The legal action is history, what happened at Everton between Moyes and Rooney is long gone but I am not at all surprised Rooney wants to leave.
Gary Neville said Rooney just wants to play football. I agree, but I suspect Rooney doesn’t want to play football under Moyes again. Neville also said Manchester United is the place to be for Rooney. Not any more, not now Sir Alex has gone.Moyes needs to make a mark at United as soon as possible. If he can somehow talk Rooney into staying, that will be a start.Gareth Bale has been brilliant. But he’s also the reason Spurs face an anxious final week of the season.
Here are some facts that seem to have been airbrushed out of Spurs recent history for some reason.
Tottenham Hotspur used to play some of the best football the Premier League has seen, they finished top four twice in three seasons, they were top scorers in the Champions League group stage with 18 goals, topped their Champions League group in their debut season, then won in the San Siro and reached the quarter finals – getting further than Arsenal and as far as Chelsea.
Gareth Bale won the PFA Player of the Year title two years ago, scored a stunning hat trick away to Inter Milan, and produced a breathtaking performance in the return fixture against the then European champions which literally had the fans at White Hart Lane out of their seats.
Torrid time: Gareth Bale tormented Maicon as Tottenham triumphed over Inter Milan in the Champions LeagueBale single-handedly ruined the reputation of Brazilian full back Maicon – he has never recovered. Bale said it was a night that ‘will never be forgotten.’
It seems to have been forgotten already.
Last week at the Football Writer’s Awards Andre Villas-Boas made a speech that left some of the audience gasping in disbelief.
‘I had Gareth knocking on my door once, not crying, but he was complaining a little bit. He said he wanted me to help him to enjoy his football a little more. We had a good conversation. Hopefully it turned out well for both of us.’
You don’t have to be deeply cynical to suspect AVB is desperate to take credit for Bale’s fantastic form this season. The kind of form he’s been showing for the past three years for Spurs and Wales.
Has AVB done something different with Bale? Yes of course, that’s why he’s scored so many goals this season.
But at the same time Spurs’ top-four position is not guaranteed.
Last season Spurs hit the top four in November, in the middle of a run of six straight Premier League wins, and never dropped out of it. That top-four position was never in doubt but this season it is, despite it being there for the taking.
Helping hand? Andre Villas-Boas has taken some of the credit for Bale's blistering form this seasonChelsea imploded months ago, employed a manager nobody wanted, and have played well over 60 games. Yet they have guaranteed Champions League football.
Arsenal no longer have Robin van Persie - they have had no stand-out players this season - but are still in with a chance of top four.
Spurs lost Luka Modric, who didn’t want to be there (and showed that virtually every time he played last season), they also lost Ledley King but couldn’t depend on him anyway given his injury record.
And AVB allowed Rafael van der Vaart to leave. He wasn’t a 90-minute player but he had quality so it was a surprise when AVB said last summer: ‘If I let Rafa go it’s because I’ve allowed him to go. It’s not because someone is forcing me to.’ At the same time, Van der Vaart said: ‘My place is at Spurs. I want to win the title at this club. The new coach has good plans for me.’ Those plans were actually to sell him to Hamburg.
Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Emmanuel Adebayor, Mousa Dembele, Clint Dempsey and Lewis Holtby all came in. Steven Caulker had been left ready for the manager to use in the first team. And bearing in mind both Michael Dawson and Tom Huddlestone started the win at the weekend, AVB must be relieved the deals he sanctioned to take them to QPR and Stoke respectively fell through.
Main man: Bale has almost single-handedly kept Tottenham in with a chance of a top-four finishSpurs won at Manchester United in September, but were down in eighth place towards the end of November after successive defeats to Man City, Arsenal, and at home to Wigan.
AVB’s answer was to turn to Bale. He indulged his star man and the goals started flowing. It’s lifted Spurs back closer to where they were last season, when they were less dependent on one player.
AVB is a nice guy, and the media get a lot from him. But the reality is after spending north of £50m, Spurs are struggling to get into a top four they made their home last season, despite having a double player of the year in the team.
Even if Spurs finish fourth, that’s where they ended up last May.
The challenge for AVB was to improve Spurs. The table shows that the team has got no better, but by letting Bale play for himself instead of the team, AVB has papered over the cracks.
The task now is to keep Bale at White Hart Lane.
If Spurs do that, the task will then be for AVB to create a better team with Bale in it, a team that is a definite top-four side, and not a maybe.
If he is as good as some think he is, then that won’t be a problem.
More... EXCLUSIVE: 'World's best' Rooney heads for showdown with new boss as Moyes says he's matured since dealing with Gazza Ferguson is a fantastic manager, says Rooney despite Swansea snub on Sunday LIVE: United's title parade! Ferguson's champions take to the streets of Manchester to celebrate their 20th league success Over to you, David! Fergie says it's up to new United boss Moyes to decide whether to sell Rooney this summer
