With so many fans seemingly desperate for Mourinho to be appointed, and a lot of misconceptions regarding why fans shouldn’t want him, I want to explain why I am certain he should not be considered for our club.

The simplest way to put it is that his approach is counter-productive to our primary goal of sustained success. Most people accept that Mourinho does not place any emphasis on developing youth players. For many pro-Mourinho fans this is either dismissed of importance entirely or at least seen as a luxury that can be sacrificed as a priority until we are back competing again; this is the frustrating misconception. The top sides who dominate year after year don't just develop youth players because they are able to; they are able to dominate year after year because they have a continuous flow of home grown talent.

No side dominates for long periods just singing top players and top managers. Real and Chelsea have been trying, and on occasion the stars align and they get success, but that only lasts a season or two. I expect most people would agree that Real and Chelsea have under achieved for the past decade or so while taking this approach.

Bayern, Barca, and Fergie's United all eclipse those side’s achievements and, in this era of money centric football, have dominated year after year. These sides have all maintained their emphasis on developing home grown talent while signing top players to complete the squad – and it is no coincidence that these sides have shown that success can be sustained year after year, from one side to the next, and in Barca and Bayern’s case, from one manager to the next.

Mourinho may well be the best manager in the world at his approach and getting short term success. But he is also a great example of my above point. He builds his small strong squad he motivates very well and is highly demanding of which gets success. But after a season or two more and more players either become disillusioned with him or lose respect for him, or become ostracized by him, or simply burn out. At this point what he needs is some enthusiastic fresh young talent to add life to the squad but because he neglects it he doesn’t have that option.

His approach has been successful for Porto, Inter, & Chelsea, but that is because for those clubs a title or two is success. At United that is not enough; we need a manager who will build something that can be carried on after they leave. This is what Barca and Bayern have; this is what van Gaal was appointed to do.

There can be no questioning that Fergie left a big hole when he left. Moyes was supposed to carry on in Fergie’s footsteps but disastrously made wholesale changes behind the scenes and ended up being woefully inadequate and leaving us in need of major rebuilding. We needed our style of football, our ethos, to be re-established throughout the club. And we needed wholesale changes to the playing staff. The rebuilding we needed was never going to be complete in a couple seasons, although we are entitled to have hoped to see more evidence of it by now that we have.

van Gaal has his philosophy (which for some has become a term of mockery) and he is sticking to it. The signing’s he has made and his past teams suggest that he wants to build a passing team that dominate possession and have quick, explosive, exciting players up front to break down stubborn defenses. I am not a professional football coach but I expect when training in a new all-encompassing footballing style it is sensible to start with the basics of positioning and possession, and that the more exciting, and more risk taking elements of play are only encouraged or permitted as a later stage. This detailed approach may be overkill for professional footballers, or it may be exactly what is required for van Gaal to create his vision, his masterpiece. Either way, this explanation fits what we have witnessed this season better than the more popular explanation that one of football’s most successful managers is an incompetent, clueless, clown.

Van Gaal has also reduced the squad size to give opportunities to young players; young players who will give most benefit to the club and future managers, but not him, almost to his own detriment at times. The way he is stubbornly refusing to waver from his footballing vision, regardless of criticism, and his commitment to developing talent who will peak after he is gone tells me that van Gaal is the kind of manager we needed when he was appointed. But obviously results and performances have not been good enough.

With the major work required to the club and squad, along with the major injury crises, and the relentless nature of the league, perhaps what van Gaal was being asked to do was never going to be completed in three seasons without some ugly stages along the way. Perhaps those ugly stages are what we have seen at times this season and we are on our way out the other side. Perhaps van Gaal has done as much as he can and a change needs to be made. Either way the next appointment has to be one who will build on van Gaal’s work or we risk being back where we were when he was appointed; trying to re-establish our footballing vision thought the club again. And if the man doing that is Mourinho we will be trying to do this crucial stage with a man who’s approach is demonstrably incompatable with our goal of sustained success.

So when I say we cannot consider Mourinho as a manager it is not because he is not very talented (he is); it is not because he is an awful cunt and clearly a person of poor character (he is); and it is not because he doesn’t fit some lofty ideals about our heritage and my preferance for developing home grown players (he doesn’t); it is because his approach will not lead us to long term success, it will take us further from it.