Jose makes pitch for United hot seat

JOSE MOURINHO could not have made his position any more clear without actually saying the words — he wants to be the next manager of Manchester United.

There are a couple of obvious obstacles, firstly that there is currently no vacancy, or likely to be one as United proudly march on towards a quintuple and immortality, if such an assessment can not already be made of Alex Ferguson.

In addition, there are the allegations that were made to Greater Manchester Police about Mourinho on Wednesday night to further cloud the issue, at least until it is decided whether they are accurate or not.

However, in Mourinho’s mind, he appears to be the anointed successor. How else could you explain the access he offered in-house station MUTV once the draw was made, or the warmth with which he spoke of United in his pre-match press conference.

And what about his solo stroll to the visitors’ dug-out prior to Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat? Mourinho could have been mistaken for the United boss by the way he welcomed the friendly handshakes from home supporters, so used to telling the former Chelsea coach to ‘sit down Mourinho’ during his Stamford Bridge days, as they did again as Inter Milan’s European aspirations were biting the dust.

The warmth was barely disguised. Neither was the tetchy relationship that exists between Mourinho and the Italian media.

England’s press may have a bad reputation for its intrusion.

During his three years in London, Mourinho seemed happy to deal with that.

What he has more problem with are the unrealistic expectations that continue to exist in Italy, even at a time when three of their sides have crashed out of the Champions League to English opposition.

“You can’t just turn up and expect to win the Champions League,” claimed Mourinho.

“There are two ways of doing it. One is to spend a huge amount of money, and obviously that kind of money is not around any longer.

“If you can do that, you can bring together superstars. “The second way is to build a team and bring together a team that matures over a period of time.”

Yet there is no sense of inferiority in Italy, even though England has provided three Champions League semi-finalists in the last two seasons and will have half the remaining contestants — and Serie A none — when the last 16 draw is made on March 20.

Instead, a range of reasons have been put forward for their collective demise, from injuries, unfortunate draws and sheer bad luck.

Yet there was nothing particularly unlucky about Inter’s loss.

Outplayed at the San Siro, they were the better team for long periods last night as an uncharacteristic sloppiness in his United side frustrated Ferguson. If Inter had been good enough, they would have won.

Instead, mistakes were made at crucial times, in both defence and attack, much as United regularly used to fall victim to five or six years ago.

“We did everything within the realms of possibility to win the game,” said Mourinho.

“It wasn’t enough to give us a chance of winning the Champions League. But I think it will be enough to win the Scudetto and I am sure we will.”

He should be proved correct, which leads to one simple conclusion.

Though Esteban Cambiasso, Ivan Cordoba, Julio Cesar and, maybe, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, deserve comparison with the world’s best, they operate in a league which, at least in top four terms, is sub-standard compared to the Premier League.

“It has been obvious for a while,” was Ferguson’s assessment when asked if events of the previous 24 hours proved beyond all doubt England was home to Europe’s top league.

The fact is taking some time to sink in, although president Massimo Moratti may possibly be more realistic when he meets Mourinho for a full debrief on Inter’s third successive last 16 exit. If he doesn’t, Mourinho may find himself seeking alternative employment before his three-year contract expires in 2011.

By that time, Ferguson will be almost 70, health and desire permitting, still driving on towards the next trophy.

But if the day of Ferguson’s exit comes before then, United’s hierarchy know they need a replacement with an immense amount of confidence in his own ability and a belief he can handle the job.

In disposing of Mourinho last night, they may have only been bidding a temporary farewell.