José Mourinho has called on Manchester United’s fans to once more get behind the team after three disaffected years in which they were forced to endure the unadventurous tactics of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
Moyes lasted 10 months, to be temporarily replaced by Ryan Giggs, while Van Gaal was eventually dispensed with despite winning the FA Cup, while chants of “We’re Man United, we want to attack!” rang out at several games last season.
The new manager has promised the supporters a fresh start, despite suspicions that he may bring his own brand of negativity to Old Trafford, and told the club website: “I understand that they expect a lot from me but I also expect a lot from them. There is no chance we will be happy if we are not together and I think the passion for this club is really amazing.
“It’s a new chapter in the club’s life. Always when you change a manager, I feel it is a sad moment but it is a new chapter now. We have brought a few new faces in, we will keep some others but, in the end, it doesn’t matter who the manager is, it doesn’t matter who the new players are or who is staying or leaving, it’s Man United and Man United is much more than any one of us.
“The passion the fans have is for the club and I feel that I am a club man. When I arrived, I wore the shirt immediately and this is the kind of club and the kind of shirt that I am very proud to represent. I am going to do my best to be happy and to make the people happy.”
In terms of targets for his first year, Mourinho reiterated his comments at his first press conference when he said: “I’m not humble when I talk about targets, I’m quite aggressive on that.
“I want everything and everything is to win matches, play well, score goals, don’t concede goals … everything. I want everything. I know that we are speaking about a hypothetical situation which is very difficult to reach but I want everything.”
Mourinho has already made his mark by signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly this summer, while Paul Pogba has been linked with a €100m return to his former club from Juventus.
The Portuguese’s first match in charge will be a friendly against Wigan at the DW Stadium on Saturday.