Jose Mourinho: The Natural Successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United

I was fortunate enough to be at Old Trafford on Saturday, sat in what was about to become the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand as the great man strode onto the famous turf to a rapturous reception from 75,000 Manchester United and Sunderland supporters.

Ferguson was treated to a guard of honor from both sets of players, and was visibly moved by the renaming of the North Stand to mark his 25-year legacy. It was an iconic sporting moment playing out before our eyes, and United's labored 1-0 win over Sunderland that followed felt all the more anti-climatic as a result.

For United fans, so spoiled through their quarter of a century under Ferguson, winning is no longer enough. United were too predictable, and offered little in the way of creative spark in the final third. Wayne Rooney's midfield deployment is an attempt to fill the inspiration void in central areas, but it ultimately dilutes United of their most inspired attacking threat.

As United fans filed out of Old Trafford, the celebratory mood felt somehow unfulfilled. "We have to buy a world-class midfielder in January," and "Rooney is wasted in there," were the common threads. "Darren Fletcher and Ji-Sung Park don't do much to get me excited," a taxi driver said to me after the game.

The reaction to United's win, their fifth from six Premier League home games this season, illustrates the weight of expectancy at the club. It was already sizable before Ferguson arrived in 1986. Thanks to his gluttony of success, it's reached a level where only a dominant victory, achieved with liberal flashes of brilliance, will suffice. Old Trafford isn't quite the Bernabeu, by it's getting closer.

And that's why, when talk turns to Ferguson's successor, I can only think of one candidate who's qualified to take the job, and wouldn't be overawed it. There's only one man who has the combination of experience and soaring self-belief to meet that kind of expectancy head on, and that man is Jose Mourinho.

All the other candidates are non-starters. David Moyes is a good manager, but his experience running a budget operation at Everton may as well be in a different industry. Do we really think Pep Guardiola would leave Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta to another manager? Martin O'Neill hasn't won a trophy in six years. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is only a year into his career, and that year was spent in Norway.

When you look at the bookmakers' odds, it's no surprise they have Mourinho installed as favorite. The Special One has always said he wants to return to England, and his relationship with Ferguson is one of mutual respect and admiration. If this Daily Mail article is to be believed, Mourinho is the man who'll get Ferguson's backing when he eventually makes his exit. When you've got a stand named in your honor, you usually get your way with these things.

The only argument against Mourinho is the perceived negativity of the teams he manages, but his Real Madrid side are doing a good job of undermining that this season. They've scored 39 goals in 11 La Liga games, with Cristiano Ronaldo involved in a prolific shoot-off with Lionel Messi that could end with both bagging more than 50 goals.

Besides, that argument wasn't enough to put off the majority of United fans I spoke to on Saturday. Most agree that Mourinho is the outstanding candidate, and perhaps the only man with a strong enough character to weather endless comparisons to the greatest manager in British football history.

United fans will remember Mourinho dancing down the Old Trafford touchline after knocking United out of the Champions League with Porto, and they'll remember him out-gunning Ferguson to two Premier League titles with Chelsea. But during that time he's always paid utmost respect to their club, and to the manager he holds in the very highest esteem.

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"Sir Alex is a unique manager in the history of Manchester United," Mourinho said. "Sir Alex is a unique manager in the history of English football. And Sir Alex is a unique manager in the history of European football."

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For a man who challenges himself at every opportunity, what better job than succeeding the most revered manager of his lifetime. The Manchester United job is made for Mourinho, and it's a question of when, and not if, he becomes the Special One of Old Trafford.