Jose Mourinho does have 'unfinished business' at Man Utd - and he might be exactly the right man to kick off the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era

Mourinho reported to Ed Woodward during his time in the Old Trafford dugout, with the former executive vice-chairman handling all transfer matters in the absence of a sporting director. Woodward was regularly criticised for his reckless spending as United overpaid for high-profile names instead of taking the time to properly scout for targets, but was always backed up by the Glazers.

According to The Athletic, Mourinho was also overruled on certain outgoings. The Portuguese deemed Anthony Martial surplus to requirements at the end of his second season, only for Joel Glazer to fight the Frenchman's corner, believing he was capable of becoming "the club's Pele".

Naturally, Woodward agreed with the co-chairman, and a short while after Mourinho was relieved of his managerial duties in December 2018, Martial was handed a new long-term contract. United were clearly in decline towards the end of Mourinho's reign, but he delivered the Carabao Cup and the Europa League before guiding the team to second place in the Premier League table - their best finish since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure.

Mourinho, a two-time European champion, won the Premier League on three occasions with Chelsea, and has also lifted league titles in Spain, Italy and Portugal. But he values his accomplishments at United just as highly, because he felt the people above him lacked the know-how to create sustained success at one of the world's biggest clubs.

“People might say, ‘This guy is crazy. He won 25 titles and now he says that second position with United was one of his best achievements in football’,” Mourinho told beIN Sports in 2019. “I keep saying this because people don’t know what is going on behind the scenes.”

A cloud of negativity settled over Old Trafford in the first half of the 2018-19 season as Mourinho went into self-destruct mode, taking out his frustration over financial and strategic choices on his squad and colleagues. United endured their worst start to a campaign in 26 years as the manager's behaviour became more and more erratic, but incredibly, he still enjoyed support from a large section of the club's fanbase.

Chants of "Jose's right, the board is sh*t" rang around the Theatre of Dreams when United fell two goals down inside 10 minutes of a Premier League clash with Newcastle. On that day, the players also rallied behind Mourinho to stage a stirring fightback and earn a 3-2 victory, but the writing was already on the wall for the coach.

When he eventually left, United were sat sixth in the league table, but they were seventh when his successor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was dismissed in November 2021, and today they are seventh again under Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman looks destined to fill another plot in Old Trafford's managerial graveyard, having faced all of the same problems as his predecessors.

When asked if time has proved him right about United's deep-rooted issues, Mourinho told BT Sport in 2022: “I’m not happy to be right. I would like to be wrong. But I knew that I was right. The first thing you have to change, for me, when things are not going right is mentality and organisation, and it was not coming. And I knew that for me to leave was not going to resolve the situation. I knew that, unfortunately."

Despite the fact United's latest season is already in ruins, with the FA Cup the only realistic route to silverware left for Ten Hag's side while Champions League qualification is all but out of reach, there is finally hope for a brighter future.

That's all due to Sir Jim Ratcliffe purchasing a 25 percent stake in the club in a deal reportedly worth £1.3 billion ($1.6bn), as the Glazers have finally taken a step back from football operations after two decades of fan protests. "Our shared ambition is clear: we all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football," the INEOS chairman said in a statement.

Much-maligned CEO Richard Arnold stepped down shortly before Ratcliffe's arrival, and INEOS have shown they mean serious business by moving quickly to secure his replacement - who just so happens to have spent the last 13 years of his career at Manchester City.

Omar Berrada left his role as chief football operations officer at the Etihad Stadium to fill Arnold's shoes at Old Trafford, and United say the appointment is their first major step towards "putting football and performance on the pitch back at the heart of everything we do". Ratcliffe has reportedly already started overhauling the club's recruitment policy, and Berrada will have a key role to play when he officially arrives in the summer, having been involved in a number of huge deals at City - including Erling Haaland's move from Borussia Dortmund.

All of this has intrigued Mourinho, with The Daily Mail stating he would very much like to work with the new regime. The foundations for success are being laid; all that's left is to bring in a manager who can make Ratcliffe's vision a reality on the pitch.

Sir Alex Ferguson's glorious 27-year tenure at Old Trafford remains the benchmark to which all other managers are measured against at United, and rightly so. The Scottish maestro didn't just deliver trophies, he implemented an entertaining brand of football, always pushed for the development of academy talent, and ruled over the dressing room with an iron first.

If Ten Hag is ushered through the exits before the end of the season, most supporters will want to see a coach who shares similar values to Ferguson brought in, with former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane, Brighton's Roberto De Zerbi and Bayer Leverkusen sensation Xabi Alonso among those being linked with the post.

But in the short-term, Mourinho might just be the best candidate for the job. If United are to get straight back into the Champions League next season, they need to start winning games week in, week out again - it's as simple as that.

Mourinho doesn't bring excitement, but he does bring results. He's also peerless when it comes to masterminding cup runs, as he proved once again by taking Roma to back-to-back European finals.

It's a highly unlikely scenario, but United could do a lot worse than appointing Mourinho on an initial one or two-year deal, just to instil a winning mentality in the dressing room. And this time around, he'd have proper football people to support him instead of business-minded yes men who are only interested in the bottom line.

At the moment, there are only four players left in the United squad who played under Mourinho: Martial, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay. If there was any chance Martial would still be at the club next season, Mourinho's return would be unthinkable, but his contract expires in the summer and it won't be renewed after his latest injury blow.

But Shaw's eyes won't be lighting up at the prospect of a reunion with Mourinho, either. The England international struggled with injuries in his early years at Old Trafford, and even when fully fit, he wasn't able to live up to the standards Mourinho demanded of him. The Portuguese criticised Shaw in public on numerous occasions, even going so far as to claim he was "making every decision for him" when the left-back put in a strong performance in a fixture against Everton in 2017. Shaw couldn't escape Mourinho's judgment even after his exit, as he called out the England international for his "dramatically bad" set-piece delivery during the Euro 2020 group stages.

“He likes some, he doesn’t like others and I fell into the category where he didn’t like me,” Shaw said in response to Mourinho's comments. “I tried as hard as I could to get back on to his side but it never worked out, no matter what I did. There is no hiding that we didn’t get on. I think he was a brilliant manager but, you know, the past is the past. He continuously talks about me, which I find quite strange. Hopefully he can find his peace with that and finally move on and stop worrying about me. Clearly he thinks about me a lot.”

In stark contrast, Rashford and McTominay would both probably welcome Mourinho back with open arms. Despite scoring a career-best 30 goals for United in 2022-23, Rashford has insisted that he "reached his apex" under Mourinho, and McTominay has hailed the Portuguese as a "real-life legend".

Mourinho is still a very divisive character, as players either love him or hate him. But those that buy into his methods tend to reap great rewards.

There was a time when everyone loved Mourinho. His charismatic personality made all of his press conferences a must-watch as he captivated both the media and public while exuding natural confidence that is rare to see in football management.

As the years went on, he edged into more arrogant territory, and his tactics are nowhere near as effective now as they were during the prime years of his career at Porto, Chelsea and Inter. Mourinho pushes aggressive paranoia and strives to generate an 'us against them' mindset that takes it's toll on his players.

He remains a fierce advocate of counter-attacking football, too, with discipline always put ahead of creativity, and has thusly been left behind. The Pep Guardiola's and Jurgen Klopp's of this world have more strings to their bow, which is why they have enjoyed greater longevity at the top than Mourinho.

But very few other managers enjoy long reigns at top clubs anymore. There is so much money involved now that owners quickly backtrack on 'long-term projects', as Graham Potter found out so brutally at Chelsea last year.

Mourinho will always be in high demand because he's a serial winner and his record speaks for itself. In the future, United will need a more progressive coach to get back to the very top of the game, but Mourinho is capable of giving them an initial kick in the right direction.