Former Sofapaka striker Ronald Okoth has stated the Premier League setbacks at Manchester United and Tottenham should not paint a picture of a failed Jose Mourinho.
The Red Devils hired the Portuguese tactician in 2016 to help trace their way back especially at the top of the Premier League, but a distant second place behind Manchester City was all he achieved before they fired him in 2018.
Later, Mourinho was appointed by Tottenham but after 18 months, he was sacked after he struggled with the London club.
To Okoth, Mourinho has been unfortunate but he is not a failed manager.
“Disappointments at Manchester United and at Tottenham are not going to soil Mourinho's stellar CV as a manager. He is a manager with a lot of charisma and he will surely find his way back,” Okoth told Goal.
“He has been at Serie A and La Liga also and performed exemplary and so the recent setbacks should not be big deals at all, so it should not dirty his CV.
“He should take a break for a short time and he will surely be back at one of these big clubs.”
Okoth, who won the Kenya Premier League title with Gor Mahia in 2013, revisited the time when Mourinho arrived in England and stunned Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger’s dominant sides.
“Look at sometimes back, he was at the top of his game either with Inter or Chelsea and he terrorised managers like Ferguson and Wenger when he arrived at the Premier League,” he added.
“He came and broke the Arsenal-Man United dominance. Remember how the two sides, especially the Gunners' Invincibles ruled football then but he came and put an end to that axis of dominance.”
The former Mathare United and KCB striker also explained how Spurs’ move to appoint the former Porto manager showed the ambitions they harboured.
“Hiring Mourinho was a big step by Tottenham to show the world how ambitious they are,” continued Okoth.
“Bringing Mourinho was a good move as they wanted to show they are among the best in Europe.
“Mourinho should have been given more time to recreate his team because he is a good manager. But let us be sincere things have not been good for him although he is a great manager.
“It is so unfortunate but that is part of football that sometimes plans work for you, sometimes the plans fail you. At some point, they have been working for Mourinho and at other times they go terribly south.”
Mourinho was appointed to succeed Mauricio Pochettino who had guided Spurs to the Uefa Champions League final – where they lost to Liverpool - the previous season.
