Rio Ferdinand has offered an apology to Jose Mourinho, and feels the former Manchester United boss has been vindicated over his thoughts on the club.
Mourinho’s time at Old Trafford came to an end in December 2018, with the former Chelsea boss paying the price for a poor start to the season that saw his side sitting sixth in the Premier League. The 59-year-old, though, remains the last manager to lift any silverware at United, having won the EFL Cup and Europa League during his spell in charge.
His final full season with United also saw him finish second behind Manchester City, achieving the club’s best finish in the league since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Speaking after his dismissal, Mourinho described the achievement as “one of the best” in his career, due to the issues at the club.
“If I tell you, for example, that I consider one of the best jobs of my career was to finish second with Man United in the Premier League, you will say, ‘this guy is crazy’,” Mourinho said in 2019.
“He won 25 titles and he is saying that a second position was one of his best achievements? I keep saying this because people don't know what is going on behind the scenes.”
Mourinho was derided for his comments at the time, although subsequent years have further underlined the issues at Old Trafford, with the club continuing to decline under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and interim manager Ralf Rangnick. Former defender Ferdinand now feels the Portuguese is owed an apology.
Speaking on his Vibe with FIVE YouTube show, Ferdinand said: “I think Jose Mourinho’s quote has aged so, so well. And me for one, I would apologise maybe to some extent in terms of the way you kind of looked at him and judged him.
“I still think there were flaws in some of the ways he handled people and handled some of the situations that he was involved in. But in terms of looking behind the scenes, that [quote] he said in 2019 on finishing second in the Premier League, that has aged so well.
“We can see that there’s been stuff going on that’s wrong behind the scenes, but at that time we didn’t know the extent of it. Obviously Jose Mourinho did.
“He wanted to get rid of numerous players and he wanted to bring in certain players, and obviously big wages and contracts were handed out to certain players and he’s thinking, ‘Woah, woah, woah, what’s going on?’ He could see the flaws in certain individuals, he could see the flaws in the way the club was set up, he wanted to change things and he wasn’t probably afforded that.
“Listen, I’d love to have half-an-hour talking to Jose just about his time there, just to work out where he was at with a bit more detail than we’ve actually ever seen, and then gauge it to where we are now – that would be very insightful.”
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