Premier League management about fine margins. Just ask Jose ...

Alex Ferguson emerged from the shadows this week to praise the “great job” Jose Mourinho has been doing during plucky Manchester United’s startling rise to the final of the EFL Cup and the heady heights of sixth in the Premier League.

“I think Jose is finding solutions now,” Fergie told us. “There was a period earlier in the season when he wasn’t getting the decisions and his emotions boiled over. You see him now — he is calm and in control.”

In turn, Jose let us know that Fergie has begun to take a more active role again in the affairs of Old Trafford, assuring us that “Sir Alex” is always welcome in “his house”.