JOSE MOURINHO INSISTS he will not be hiding behind Manchester United’s poor results in the past three seasons and wants to be challenging for silverware from the start.
The Old Trafford side have had to settle for seventh, fourth and fifth spot respectively in the Premier League over the past three campaigns, having last won the title under Alex Ferguson in 2012-13.
Mourinho feels merely improving on last term’s results is not enough for a club of United’s stature, though, and is adamant they should be aiming to win titles again in 2016-17.
“Managing Manchester United is not the dream job, this is reality,” said the Portuguese. “But it is a job everyone wants and not many people get this chance.
“I got this job and I know the responsibility and expectations that come with it. I know the history of this club. I know what the fans expect from me. I am not nervous about this challenge. I have shown in the past decade that I can live with big expectations.
“I have never been very good at hiding behind words and philosophies. And I have never tried to do that. I have always been aggressive in my approach, regardless of the risks that come with it.
“It would be easy and pragmatic to focus on the last three years. But I am not good at that aspect. I prefer to be more aggressive, and that is to say we want to win.
“What is playing well? Playing well is scoring more goals and conceding less than the opponent. It is to make your fans proud because you give absolutely everything.
We want everything at the same time. It’s an aggressive approach by myself. I want everything — I want to win matches, I want to play well, I want to play young players, I want to score goals, I don’t want to concede goals.
“I want the fans behind us because in the last five minutes we are chasing a result. I want them behind because in the last five minutes we are defending a result.
“Of course, we are not going to get everything… but we want to.”
He added: “I have to prove things to myself, not to others. That’s my nature. I would never be able to work without success. I always ask things of myself and of others, that’s in my nature.
“I could be defensive and point at our results in the past three years, but I cannot do that.
“When people have had a certain menu for years, you must improve the menu if you want to change it. Success has been normal at Man United. We want to forget about the last three years. The players must not think about doing better and finishing fourth, that is not the aim.”
United missed out on Champions League qualification last season and Mourinho is desperate to return to European club football’s elite competition sooner rather than later.
“It will be frustrating that we are not playing in the Champions League,” he added.
“I hope it will be just one season without Champions League football. Manchester United are a Champions League club. We want to be back in the Champions League next year.”
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The really ridiculous thing is the divisional finals. Having won all their divisional games, Limerick then had to go and play 2nd place Dublin. If you’re top of the league, you win. Its not as if its a humongous money spinning game for the GAA.
There should be 8 teams in Division 1. As a Dub i’m delighted with the win on Saturday night but it could have gone either way. Limerick don’t deserve to be playing in 1B. They should be playing in the Top Division with teams of the same calibre as them.
Limerick should be in the top flight no doubts.
Losing one playoff shouldn’t doom a good team to another year playing teams they’re clearly superior to.
Helps nobody
Of course leagues are ‘elitist’ – but that’s why there are leagues in the first place. Allen would be on the other side of the fence if Limerick were made to play a few meaningless games against Longford or Warwickshire in a pre-Championship tournament.
On a broader point, it seems this year like every division below 1A has one or two teams that are evidently on a higher plane than everyone else – Dublin and Limerick in 1B, Laois and Westmeath in 2A, Meath and London in 2B, Fingal in 3A and Longford in 3B (perhaps less so in the 3A and 3B divisions).
It seems like the bands of teams would be much fairer if the league was restructured into five tiers, with eight teams in Division 1 and the rest of the country (36 teams, if you brought Cavan back in) split into four divisions of seven teams each. The likes of Laois and Westmeath – Liam MacCarthy teams, basically – get back with their own kind in Division 2; Meath or London get into the third tier where they’re given a decent challenge to rise up a few notches, and Fingal or Donegal are taken out of a division where they’re consistently beating the likes of Fermanagh and Tyrone.
To be honest it seems like there are only two issues with the idea: firstly, that it would mean a few extra Sundays taken out of the county club championships (which shouldn’t be too much of a problem considering every county previously took part in an eight-county division until fairly recently), and secondly, that you’d have the seven lowest teams given the dubious honour of playing in ‘Division 5′. Realistically this is just a branding thing: I don’t see the difference between putting a team in Division 5 and putting them in Division 3B (why isn’t it called Division 6? it’s not as if Divisions 1, 2 and 3 carry any equality to the four tiers of Championship hurling anyway). A rose by another other name…
The GAA needs a complete overhaul. I know traditionalists wont like the idea, but I would love to get rid of pre league tournaments like the McGrath cup. Run off provincial championships in March&April. Then roll league and championship into one champions league style tournament 16 teams in hurling – 4 groups of 4 and top 2 from each into quarter finals. 32 teams in football (4 groups of 8 teams) top 2 from each into quarters. This would also help create a proper calendar for club fixtures.
It should be an 8 team division one, the current 6 plus Dublin and limerick! you need to have promotion and relegation
I don’t get how an eight team division one solves the problem of an elite six team division 1a. If anything it makes the situation worse. Think about it, Limerick played four of six games against Dublin(twice), Wexford and Offaly. Cork or Clare will replace Dublin next year. It’s a bit much for Limerick to believe they’re too good for that type of opposition.
With an eight team division one, the likes of Wexford will play six of seven games against Carlow, Antrim, Laois, Kerry, Westmeath and Down in division two. Being in a six team division 1b in spring is a reasonable preparation for the championship, and even offers a route to winning the league. Finding yourself in an eight team division two would be a far bigger setback.
Billy, Limerick and Dublin are better teams than wexford and offaly. they are on the same level as cork, clare and waterford and this was clear in lasts years championship. Being denied promotion two years ago was insulting. They top the league yet are still in the same division . The young players coming through need to be playing the stronger sides to develop and to make the championship stronger.
10 team in Div 1 Of hurling league .. Would include current 6 plus Dublin, Limerick, Offaly and Wexford
The format for the championship is no better. There’s more chopping and changing than their is in a match itself.
A league is a league – you win the league – end of story .