The 2015-16 season began with Louis van Gaal still well liked at Old Trafford and Jose Mourinho as the title winning manager at Chelsea. 12 months later, the Dutchman has been unceremoniously removed and Mourinho announced as the new manager of Manchester United.
It’s been a turbulent week for Manchester United. They won the FA Cup on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace in the final, only to have the cup winning manager Louis van Gaal sacked for the otherwise unimpressive season. On Friday, the worst kept secret of the past few months was finally officially confirmed as Jose Mourinho was announced as the Manchester United manager.
Events unfolded in dramatic fashion this campaign as Jose Mourinho was ousted from Chelsea mid-season and Louis van Gaal’s credibility as a top manager slowly vanished. We take a look at some of the key events that led up to the unbelievable sight of Jose Mourinho doing an interview as Manchester United manager.
8th August, 2015
Manchester United kicked off the season with a very narrow victory over Tottenham, thanks to a Kyle Walker own goal. They dominated possession and played a neat passing game, but the sharpness in attack was missing throughout. Little did they know that this was how their entire season would play out.
For Jose Mourinho, the beginning of the season was the beginning of the end. Chelsea fought a 2-2 draw with Swansea City at Stamford Bridge after being reduced to 10 men, and Mourinho was embroiled in a sideline bust-up with first-team doctor Eva Carneiro. The incident would haunt the Portuguese manager, as Eva went on to leave the club and file personal legal action against Mourinho.
17th December, 2015
Chelsea sack Jose Mourinho with the club in 16th place and just a point above the relegation zone after 16 matches. Mourinho’s final outing as Blues manager was two days prior, when they were defeated at the King Power Stadium by soon to be Champions Leicester City. Goals from Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez were enough to knock the Champions League winning manager off his perch.
Manchester United and Louis van Gaal had problems of their own though, as they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat against newly promoted Bournemouth that week. This would prove to be the month that damned the Dutchman, as United then went on to lose against Norwich City and Stoke City before closing out the year with a draw against Chelsea under interim manager Guus Hiddink. By then the speculation around Mourinho to Man United had already started.
11th March, 2016
Manchester United suffer an agonizing defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Liverpool in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie. The 2-0 loss in the first ever European meeting between the two sides was something they couldn’t recover from and they crashed out of the Europa League the next week, shattering Van Gaal’s hopes of guiding them to the Champions League next season by winning the Europa League.
In between the two legs of the tie, Jose Mourinho made the news by breaking his long silence after being sacked by Chelsea. The Special One stated in an interview that he would be returning to management in the beginning of the next season, but nary a word was spoken of the United job.
24th May, 2016
It was a dramatic end to the season for Manchester United. The Red Devils snatched an extra-time victory in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace to win their first major trophy since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Louis van Gaal was an exuberant figure as he celebrated with the players – the poor performances in the Premier League and Europe must have been the last thing on his mind then.
Three days after that night at Wembley, Van Gaal was sacked. The media already confirmed just after the FA Cup final that Manchester United had decided to let the Dutchman go but the official announcement came on the 24th of May.
Three days later came the confirmation of the worst kept secret in football in 2016. Jose Mourinho was unveiled as the new Manchester United manager. The special one had arrived at a special club.
