Mourinho to keep Fergie involved and to show him Man Utd ‘love’

Rob McCarthy
Jose Mourinho: Wants to keep Sir Alex Ferguson 'involved'

Jose Mourinho: Wants to keep Sir Alex Ferguson 'involved'

Jose Mourinho has explained how he is trying to make sure that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is still involved with the club.

Mourinho was appointed United boss last summer, following on from the difficult reign of Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford.

Van Gaal himself had replaced Ferguson’s immediate successor David Moyes, who had been recommended for the job by the United legend, only to then be sacked after less than a year in charge.

Mourinho has discussed his relationship with Ferguson, who he claimed can be a ‘little shy’ in his approach to the team.

“It’s the same relationship we had in the old days,” he told Portuguese TV channel Sic. “A phone call, an SMS, sympathetic details like we always had with each other. A Christmas, a birthday, a more important game.

“When he left here, he wanted to leave and not come back. I think, perhaps, for his own comfort. Maybe going back is to suffer a little.

“But after I arrived he came in again. He came back to visit the people he worked with for so many years. He traveled with us once again. And that’s what I said: It doesn’t make sense that we’re playing in London and go on a private train and you Sir will go by car. You’re not going by car, no. Go by train with the team.

“But he is so respectful that he becomes even a little shy in this approach. We have to make him feel loved. In our head there are no ghosts, no complexes, no such thing.

“There have been situations at the end of the game where Sir Bobby Charlton comes down, the executive director comes down, and he, who is with them, does not come to the dressing room. That kind of situation, I already said that makes absolutely no sense.

“With me he has to be perfectly at ease to do it as a person of his dimension and who represents so much to the club.”