The Night Mourinho Cried and Manchester United Lost a Decade

It's one of the great 'what ifs' in Premier League history. Jose Mourinho agreed to become Manchester United manager in 2013, shook hands on terms, and then phoned Sir Alex Ferguson in tears to say he couldn't do it. What followed was one of the most damaging periods in Man Utd's modern history, and the ripple effects are still being felt today.

Agreement Reached, Then Gone in Days

Meetings had been held in Madrid and London. Ferguson had personally told Mourinho he was stepping down, a gesture of enormous trust given how closely guarded that information was. Negotiations moved quickly, terms were agreed, and for a brief window, United believed they had their man.

Then it unravelled. Mourinho cited family reasons, a home in London, a promise made after his first Chelsea departure in 2007. Some people inside Old Trafford have never fully bought that explanation. What's more likely is that his positive relationship with Roman Abramovich pulled him back toward Stamford Bridge. Whatever the real reason, the decision was reversed within days.

Ferguson later recalled Mourinho calling him, crying, saying he'd given his word to Chelsea and wouldn't break it. That single phone call changed the course of Man Utd's history.

What Mourinho Would Have Changed Immediately

This is where it gets genuinely fascinating. The feeling among senior figures at the club, even now, is that Mourinho would have hit the ground running in a way that Moyes never could.

Thiago Alcantara's move from Barcelona was already agreed but collapsed under Moyes. Sources close to the club insist Mourinho would have pushed that deal through without question. Marouane Fellaini, signed in chaos on deadline day for an inflated fee after the release clause had expired, simply wouldn't have happened.

Mourinho had already given United his views on multiple players, including Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi. He came in with a plan. That's not speculation, that's what the people around the club at the time believe.

The other side of it is what he would have done with the players already there. Ferguson's final title-winning squad significantly overperformed by most measures. No manager was extracting more from those players than Ferguson himself. But the drop-off to seventh under Moyes was dramatic. The belief is that Mourinho's presence, his standards and his sheer force of personality, would have kept that squad competitive for longer.

When He Did Arrive, Too Much Had Changed

Mourinho eventually joined Man Utd in 2016, replacing Louis van Gaal. By that point the squad had been completely turned over. Of the 18 players who started 10 or more Premier League games in the 2012-13 title-winning season, only six were still regulars by the time Mourinho arrived.

The dressing room was different. The culture was different. And Mourinho himself had changed too, having left Chelsea in December 2015 with the club sitting 16th in the table after a catastrophic title defence.

What he achieved at United still divides opinion. He won the Europa League and EFL Cup in his first season. He twice qualified for the Champions League. Their 81-point total in 2017-18 remains their best post-Ferguson Premier League campaign by some distance. He's called finishing second that season one of his best achievements as a manager, and it's hard to argue with that when you look at how far behind the rest they've fallen since.

But the fallout with Paul Pogba, the public disputes with the board over transfer policy, the accusations over Anthony Martial. It got messy, and he was gone by December 2018.

Our Take: United Still Haven't Recovered

This is the part most fans feel in their gut even if they can't articulate it clearly. Man Utd didn't just lose a manager in 2013. They lost momentum, direction and a clear identity at the exact moment they needed all three.

With Ferguson and David Gill both leaving simultaneously, the club needed someone with the authority and confidence to impose a new structure while still competing at the top. Mourinho was built for exactly that kind of challenge. Moyes wasn't, and that was obvious within months.

Could Mourinho at his 2013 peak have guided Man Utd through a proper post-Ferguson transition? In our view, yes. Would United be in a better position today if he'd taken the job then rather than three years later? Almost certainly.

Instead, one phone call and one teary apology set the club on a path they're still trying to find their way off. That's the real cost of the sliding doors moment, and for Man Utd fans, it still stings.