6 Reasons Why Jose Mourinho Should Never Manage Manchester United

Every time the subject of who should succeed Sir Alex Ferguson comes up, Jose Mourinho's name is mentioned. He is still favourite with the bookmakers. Betfair have him at 3/1, with Pep Guardiola second favourite at only 9/1.

There is no doubt that he's popular with English football fans. What he achieved at Chelsea and all he has won elsewhere (for example, as the first manager to win the Champions League with two different clubs) mark him out as one of the best in the world.

So why should Manchester United not appoint him?

His Behaviour at Times Is Disgraceful

What Mourinho did at the end of the Supercup was an absolute disgrace. To a child, it might look amusing. In the midst of yet another bust-up between his team and the opposition, that the officials were trying to calm, "The Special One" calmly walked over and pinched the ear of one of Barcelona's coaches.

It could only be designed to inflame the situation. Mourinho has already fallen foul of UEFA, with a five match ban following his inappropriate statement after the 2011 Champions League semifinal between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

In that statement, he said "Today it's clear that against Barcelona, you have no chance. I don't understand why. I don't know if it's the publicity of UNICEF (the club's shirt sponsor), I don't know if it's the friendship of (Spanish football federation president Angel Maria) Villar at UEFA, where he is vice-president, I don't know if it's because they are very nice, but they have got this power. The rest of us have no chance.

Guardiola is a fantastic coach...I hope that one day he will win a clean Champions League, with no incidents behind it."

There are rather too many other incidents, but surely when UEFA review Wednesday's video, he'll have a much tougher ban implemented, as he clearly disdains authority.

He Is Too Defensive

Credit where credit is due. Mourinho found the way for Inter Milan to beat Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semifinal before going on to beat Bayern Munich in the Final.

And he is nothing if not a realist. As we'll consider later, he'll do almost anything to win. So why did Roman Abramovich sack him if he was the most successful manager in Chelsea's history?

The Russian oligarch grew up watching the great Real Madrid teams. He wants above all to win the Champions League, which Jose failed to deliver. But he also wants his teams to win playing attacking football like Manchester United. Ancelotti perished for similar reasons.

You can't blame Mourinho for going on the defensive tack after Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 5-0 last November, but that's not how Manchester United play.

He Keeps Moving Clubs

Of course, managers move clubs, but Manchester United's success since 1937 has been built on continuity and longevity. Four managers alone account for 64 of those 74 years, and the two Knights, Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson, have a total of 50 between them.

The longest Jose Mourinho has stayed as manager at any club is three years, and only on one occasion was he sacked.

Yes he is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. He has already said he would like to return to the English Premier League (which must have pleased his masters at Real). It is no secret that he would like to manage Manchester United, and it is said that Sir Alex hates him. They certainly appeared to have a good relationship when he was at Chelsea.

But frankly, he's better suited to Manchester City. He would revel in Mancini's modern version of Catenaccio, and at times, his teams have played what has become known as "anti-football." That is not the United way.

He might try to convince the United hierarchy that he would stay and play their typical 4-4-2, but when the chips are down, Mourinho will do anything to get the right result, including disrupting the other team's psychology, which he has been trying to do to Barcelona since he arrived at Real Madrid.

He Breaks the Rules

Some would call it cheating. Jose Mourinho is a clever man with a creative mind. What he did in Real Madrid's Champions League match against Ajax last November would have caused uproar if he was at United.

Briefly, Madrid had qualified for the knock-out stages, but still had a meaningless group match to play against Auxerre. Mourinho instructed Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos to deliberately get themselves sent off, knowing they would miss the final match but their records would be clean for the knockout matches. For this, he got a two match ban himself.

To be fair, he learned at the feet of the master while at Chelsea, observing how Sir Alex used the media to influence referees and others. Mourinho has perfected the art, but at times behaves as if he is untouchable, as seen in his astonishing outburst after the Barcelona match mentioned earlier.

At Chelsea, he was reported to have hidden in a laundry basket to get around UEFA sanctions and get instructions to his team when he was banned from communicating during a Champions League tie.On two other occasions, he was reputed to have circumvented a similar ban by sending messages from his laptop in the stands and also by communicating to the earpiece of one of the coaching assistants.

The manager at Manchester United is given more power than the coach at Barcelona or Porto. Could Mourinho be trusted not to bring the Reds' name into disrepute to the detriment of his team?

His Teams Are Indisciplined

With less than a minute to go and Real Madrid losing on aggregate to Barcelona in the Spanish Supercup, Marcelo, the Madrid full back, committed a brutal tackle on Cesc Fabregas on the halfway line. It was senseless and pointless. Marcelo was red carded with two others following the ensuing brawl.

Jose Mourinho is a great motivator. The trouble is he gets his players wound up to a fever pitch, especially in the critical matches and between the two Spanish super teams. From the moment he arrived in Spain, he seems to have been intent on winding up Barcelona to destabilise them. Certainly they weren't saints on Wednesday.

But if the manager is indisciplined, it is hardly surprising that his players are.

Chelsea were involved in several unruly matches, with mass brawls and haranguing referees, while Mourinho was at Stamford Bridge, most notably in their 2-1 defeat by Barcelona in 2006. Afterwards, he was quoted as saying "I'm so proud of my players for fighting the way they did,"

Since their spats, most notably against Arsenal in the past, Manchester United have become much better disciplined as a team. The last thing they need is a manager who behaves like Mourinho does.

He Loves Himself Too Much

A saint he isn't. And that's what a lot of people love about him. As well as the fact he delivers...time after time and club after club, there is never a dull moment and he knows how to win.

"I am the European champion. I think I am a special one."

"I'm still the special one, for sure. You want to try and succeed in your job like I have done in mine inside three years? You have no chance."

"Like, for example, 'I'm special; I want to win in the first season. I don't care about the power of Manchester United and Arsenal"

"We have top players here and, I'm sorry if it seems a bit arrogant, but we have a top manager."

"If I wanted to have an easy job... I would have stayed at Porto—beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me."

"I'm arrogant because it is necessary to be that way in the world of football."

"I am Jose Mourinho, and I don't change—I arrive with all my qualities and my defects."

Say no more. You either love him or hate him. But like Joey Barton, he's not right for United.