Jose Mourinho claims Manchester United are not expected to win trophies

Jose Mourinho has suggested Manchester United are not expected to win trophies and that the expectations placed on him to win silverware – both at Old Trafford and Tottenham – were unrealistic.

United have not won the Premier League title in nine years, since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final campaign in charge in 2013, while their only other trophy outside of Mourinho’s reign was secured by Louis van Gaal in the FA Cup in 2016.

The Dutchman was dismissed shortly afterwards and replaced by the self-proclaimed Special One, who would go on to win the Community Shield, Carabao Cup and Europa League – which is the last trophy United have picked up in a barren five years.

Mourinho was ultimately sacked in December 2018 with United 11 points adrift of the top four and suffered a similar fate in his next job at Spurs, failing to qualify for the Champions League and dismissed from his role just a few days before the Carabao Cup final.

That led to suggestions that the 59-year-old might be too outdated for modern football, but he has enjoyed something of a renaissance with Roma and led the Italian side to the final of the Europa Conference League – their first European final in 31 years.

Carlo Ancelotti, who is three years older than his Portuguese counterpart, faced similar criticism to Mourinho when he was at Everton, but is now in the final of the Champions League with Real Madrid and has already won the title in La Liga.

Asked if both he and Ancelotti had silenced their critics, Mourinho instead flipped the question on its head and suggested the issue was never with their coaching ability but, rather, the clubs they were at.

He explained: ‘I believe that the problem with Carlo Ancelotti was that when you coach Everton you are not about to