Manchester United players would 'hate' Jose Mourinho - Tim Sherwood's a better option, says Paul Parker

Would Tim Sherwood be a better fit for United than Jose Mourinho?
Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images
Tom Doyle17 February 2016

Manchester United players would "hate" being coached by Jose Mourinho and would be better off with Tim Sherwood replacing Louis van Gaal instead of the former Chelsea coach, according to former Old Trafford defender Paul Parker.

The odds on Van Gaal becoming the next top-flight coach to be sacked fell further last weekend as United lost 2-1 at Sunderland.

The defeat left the Red Devils six points off the Champions League qualification places with 12 games left to play - a target former United boss David Moyes says is a must for his successor Van Gaal to keep the job this summer.

Mourinho has been heavily linked with United since being sacked by the Premier League champions in December, but Parker - who played for United, QPR, Chelsea and England - says Old Trafford officials should steer clear of the Portuguese coach despite the club's current problems.

"United went from bad to worse this weekend," Parker wrote in his Eurosport column. "But bringing in Jose Mourinho? That is absolutely not the answer.

"Mourinho's history in the game tells you all you need to know: he's a man who needs control, and who flounders in situations when he has lost it. So to suggest that he could walk in to a crisis situation at United and turn it around is absurd.

"He's lost a huge amount of respect in the game, and I suspect the players at United hate the idea of him taking over. Frankly, given how unhappy the players are right now, they'd be better off bringing in Tim Sherwood between now and the end of the season: someone to soft soap the players, given them a bit of a cuddle, get them feeling good about themselves once again.

"Sadly, as we've seen with Tim, those sorts of managers don't work long term. And United need to start thinking about the long term as soon as possible, because if not they face the ultimate danger: turning into the new Liverpool."

Sherwood was sacked by Aston Villa in October having saved them from relegation last season, while also guiding the club to the FA Cup final. The former midfielder was previously sacked as head coach by Tottenham at the end of the 2013-14 campaign.

Parker believes Mourinho is part of the "old-fashioned approach" to management, and says United must move with the times as their rivals have done.

"[Diego] Simeone and Jurgen Klopp have shown how a modern manager can combine inspiring a team with the sort of attractive football that fans love," Parker added.

"Mourinho isn't capable of doing that. Who would want to come and play for him now, given the mess he left at Chelsea?"

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in