Flying in? Jose Mourinho still wants the United
job more than any other.
Sir Alex Ferguson is determined to remain Manchester
United manager for at least one more season, disappointing Jose
Mourinho, who hopes to succeed him at Old Trafford.
The United boss emphasised his continuing enthusiasm for the job
with his touchline celebrations yesterday after Paul Scholes’
93rd-minute winner against Manchester City pulled his team right
back into the title race.
With Chelsea stumbling to a 2-1 defeat five hours later at
Tottenham — where captain John Terry was sent off — United’s 1-0
victory lifted them just one point behind with three games to
play.
There have been reports that Sir Alex was considering ending his
career at United, following the club’s exit from the Champions
League.
Victory dance: Sir Alex shows his vim and vigour at
Eastlands
But the 68-year-old Scot intends to be in charge at
least to see out the new one-year contracts handed to Scholes and
his fellow veteran Ryan Giggs last week.
Former United skipper Steve Bruce, now in charge at Sunderland,
poured scorn on any suggestion that his old manager would retire
imminently. ‘It’s a load of rubbish. He’ll be around for a long
time yet,’ he said last night.
Ferguson feared his team’s challenge for the Premier League
would have ended if they had not secured a victory
yesterday.
Asked if the title race was over without the Scholes goal, he
said: ‘It looked that way. It would have made it very difficult.
There’s no doubt that we deserved to win the game,
but I couldn’t see a goal coming.
‘I think Paul was man of the match. He was absolutely fantastic.
Such a skilful player. ‘It was an amazing finish. We have had
three last-minute goals against City now this season, but deserve
it.
‘We had the best chances but it did not look like anyone was
going to win. The game became very open in the last 10
minutes.’
Man of the match: Paul Scholes seals the
points
Ferguson’s decision to stay at United is bad news for
Mourinho, who would dearly love to be the one to follow the Scot —
and sooner rather than later.
Any move by Mourinho from Inter Milan would spark a managerial
merry-go-round this summer which could see changes at top-flight
clubs in England, Italy and Spain.
The Portuguese boss heads Real Madrid’s wish list to succeed
Manuel Pellegrini, who will be fired at the end of the season.
If he does decides to stay at Inter and wait until the
United job becomes available, the
Spaniards will make an effort to lure England manager Fabio
Capello.
The word from Turin is the Italians have tired of waiting for an
answer from Benitez and have now targeted City’s Roberto
Mancini.
Mourinho has always insisted he will honour his Inter contract,
which has another two
seasons to run. But he has also made no secret of his ambition
to return to Premier League management. Having turned down City, he
still wants the United job more than any other.
The big question is whether he would be prepared to wait and
take his chances of
inheriting Ferguson’s chair at Old Trafford.