He could even return to Madrid because he has an excellent relationship with Florentino. I hope he never comes back though.

Basically, and in my humble opinion, there are only two clubs out there that they will never move for him: Bayern and Barça. Barça for obvious reasons, and Bayern because Rummenigge has criticized him on multiple occasions and clearly he doesn't want him anywhere near his club. The rest are all up for grabs.

1. Real Madrid: he has an excellent relationship with the president. So as long as Florentino is in power, he could return.

2. Chelsea: I don't think when Mou was sacked for the second time he burned any bridges. He still is highly respected and admired over there, and I'm sure they'll move for him again when they're very desperate.

3. Inter: Do I even have to give a reason?

4. Juventus and Milan: many believe that he's Inter in Italy. It's a good point, but then again people also thought he was Chelsea in England, and yet it didn't refrain him from signing for one of their biggest rivals. I wouldn't rule out a move for either of them in the near or distant future

5. Atlético: I honestly don't see why he couldn't sign for them post-Simeone. It's a very plausible scenario.

6. Arsenal: the least plausible destination. I remember last summer, many Gooners were hoping he would sign for them. So, most of them, don't really mind having him. But I don't think he'll ever agree because I think he realizes if he signs for them, all ties with Chelsea and their fanbase will be broken.

7. City and PSG: don't even doubt it for a second, those guys are desperate for big name managers to attract big players and strengthen their brand. I think they have already contacted him in the past, and I have no doubt they'll try to sign him again. They hired guys like Mancini, Pellegrini and Blanc, Mou is going to be a superstar there.

NT football:

1. He got Portugal locked up, and aside from all the nations where they only hire national managers, he has a good chance of being approached by those who don't mind having a foreign coach.

he could even still move to barcelona or bayern. nothing's impossible, rummenigge's mother doesn't own the club, and worse managers have managed barcelona. i get it, his ideas don't fit with theirs, but neither did many of the managers who coached them post cruyff and pre-riijkard or guardiola.

things change in life and football. as fans we get stuck in the moment but things change just with a snap of the finger. i never thought united would sack managers or spend the way they have post ferguson. but he leaves and just like that, all the talk of a certain way of doing things changes....because results are glaring...and that's the same with almost any top club.

if by some extreme strange course of events, bayern start flopping (which has happened, when dzeko and grafite ran things), and mou's the only choice at hand. guess what, they'll go for him. business, strictly business

Mou was never the same after his tenure in Spain. Should have taken a sabbatical to clear his head imo

i don't know if one can say he wasn't the same. but yes, in those instances its good to take time off. with the resume, you'll always get a good gig. not to mention, doing some punditry (which he did for a bit after the first chelsea stint), tends to attract directors and presidents....makes the manager look like they know what they're talking about. rafa did that too i think before his chelsea move. its a sneaky way of selling what good plans or coaching strategies one has (even though for the team that hires them, its usually bollocks)

He peaked at Inter.

I can't believe I'm going to defend that classless excuse for a human being, but I guess I have to be fair.

I believe he has always been the same. But there are other variables that you need to take into account in order to accurately judge whether or not he's in fact past it. For instance:

Squad strength: The squad he had at Chelsea during his second stint was nowhere near the sides he had coached before. And even then he managed to reach the CL semi-final with them and win the league. That's quite impressive.

Let's not forget that we're talking about a manager whose last major trophy was won 2 years ago. That's not bad at all.

There are many managers working today who haven't won any major trophy in a long time but nobody, strangely enough, thinks they're past it.

He still has enough room to screw up time and time again and still be considered elite. And contrary to popular belief, I think it would be a mistake to write him off now. Heck, I have seen enough from Z already to pull my hair out and scream at the top of my lungs. But I still hasn't asked for his head yet. I have to be fair to him and give him more time even though I already think he's not good enough.

Same with Mourinho, let's wait and see how his United stint goes, then and only then, we'll be able to say whether he's lost it.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Even if you only take into account the very biggest clubs, Mou will always have a chance, and here's why:

Big clubs don't always get their first choice, and sometimes, they are coerced into settling for someone at the bottom of their list (Pellegrini at Madrid).

And given the fact that most of them only want established managers with a solid pedigree, their list is going to have the same names.

There's also another scenario where managers can land jobs that under normal circumstances would not be able to: when you have already hired and fired pretty much all the established star managers out there, you'll have no choice but to hire someone from the second tier (Rafa at Madrid).

As far as Mourinho is concerned, he's one of the most successful managers of the last 15 years. And if guys who lost their touch a long time ago could land jobs at PSG, City and even United, I don't see why Mourinho would not be able to.

This of course, assuming he screws up at United, which is way too premature to tell at this point.

Hey DoC, how does Madrid signing the rookie Zidane fit in with your theory?

Seriously, I don't expect him to turn on team, club, players, refs, EPL until his third season, so this thread is premature. But, I do believe if he doesn't accomplish anything at United and things go as badly with him as they usually do, he's best to look at the money in China!

futbol_bill wrote:
Hey DoC, how does Madrid signing the rookie Zidane fit in with your theory?

It's the same as when Barça appointed Roura, or when Chelsea appointed Di Matteo or when Bayern appointed Jonker. Clubs fire their main guy and have to make due with their assistant coach or someone from the club until the end of the season. If they win something with him, he may get more time. If he doesn't win anything, they thank him for his interim services and everybody parts ways.

Z just like those guys was lucky enough to be available during a time where the club couldn't afford to be picky and had to settle with whatever they got. He wasn't the first choice, otherwise he would've been signed instead of Rafa. So if Rafa hadn't screwed up, Z wouldn't have been signed at all. This is what I meant by managers landing jobs that under normal circumstances wouldn't be able to.

Seriously, I don't expect him to turn on team, club, players, refs, EPL until his third season, so this thread is premature. But, I do believe if he doesn't accomplish anything at United and things go as badly with him as they usually do, he's best to look at the money in China!

I agree about one thing, he has no excuse not to succeed at United. He has to win something because he was handed a blank cheque and the club followed his instructions to the letter and signed all his targets. You have to win something after spending all that money.

But I think even if he screws up at United, he'll still continue to receive offers from big clubs.

Tick tock

No, United suits him.

he lacks ideas, the formation he is attempting to use makes very little sense. utd want to create chances, why the hell is valencia playing right back. the two best wingers on the team are either playing out of position or on the bench. mata as a winger is better than both wingers playing right now. valencia as a rw was a magnificent crosser of the ball, how do you put him to start playing rb, you're losing a lot on that right flank

mourinho lacks idea, the worst that could happen to them in this game happened. chelsea scoring early on...and after that they just ran with it. mou will now have to start hoping that locker room doesn't get fragmented, disjointed locker rooms have been among his biggest nemesis