Jose Mourinho Furious With Man United’s TV Channel, Meeting With Club Chiefs Expected
Dec 11, 2016 at 1:13 PM
Ahead of Manchester United’s crucial match against Tottenham on Sunday, Jose Mourinho is refusing to speak to the club’s in-house television station.
MUTV is a subscription-based TV channel owned and operated by United, but The Mirror have reported that the Portuguese manager has withdrawn cooperation and will not do pre- and post-match interviews with them.
The reason goes back to Man Utd’s 1-1 league draw with West Ham at Old Trafford last month, in which the Red Devils totally dominated and had 17 shots on goal, but were unable to find a winner after Zlatan Ibrahimovic got them back on level terms in the 21st minute.
Following that game, where a furious Mourinho was sent to the stands by referee Jon Moss for kicking a drinks bottle, the 53-year-old took exception to the questions asked by MUTV’s Stewart Gardner.
He was very unhappy that the club’s own TV channel were quizzing him so strongly about the team’s disappointing run of Premier League results that had seen them draw four home games.
The “Special One” fell out with Gardner, who has been an MUTV presenter and commentator Gardner since leaving the BBC in 2007, and made his feelings known in no uncertain terms before complaining to the club’s media team.
Mourinho didn’t like being forced to answer Gardner’s awkward questions regarding results, and he refused to take questions from him for the EFL Cup win over West Ham, the league draw at Everton and Thursday’s 2-0 Europa League victory against Zorya in Ukraine.
Whilst you may think Gardner has every right to seek Mourinho’s comments about United’s stuttering form, as with all club-run channels, interviewers must strike the right balance between asking cutting-edge questions whilst not pointing it out too much if a team is struggling for form.
That said, Gardner worked with Sir Alex Ferguson on matchdays as well as both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, he is a well-respected figure at United, and insiders feel that Mourinho is just overreacting to his team falling way behind the title-chasing pack.
Again, via The Mirror, an insider said: “It’s felt the manager has overreacted on this occasion and that’s why he’s refusing to speak with Stewart Gardner.
“The presenters and commentators have to tread a fine line between stating what’s clearly obvious if the team isn’t winning games, but not upsetting the manager or coaching staff.
“Sometimes that’s not always possible and inevitably there will be difficult moments like the present situation. Hopefully it will be resolved very soon.”