Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho said he has “no problems” with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, in a pre-match news conference missed by most of the media because the Portuguese arrived half an hour early. Mourinho spoke for four minutes and 19 seconds – much shorter than is normal – and said he had not read reports of a falling out between the two. “I don’t know 10% of what is written,” Mourinho said. “I’m not the right guy to answer.”
When reminded that he had in the past always spoken about Woodward with respect, and asked if their relationship was still fine, he added: “Of course. No problems.” He was also asked whether reports of conflict were part of an “overreaction” to United’s 3-2 defeat by Brighton in the Premier League last weekend, to which Mourinho replied: “You are pessimistic, I am not.” Not much Jose Mourinho does is by accident, so when he turns up half an hour early for his news conference you can’t help but wonder if he is responding to some of the stories written recently about Manchester United and his position as manager.
Certainly he caught the assembled journalists on the hop, with some arriving part way through and some missing the conference altogether. Despite being keen to start early he was reluctant to discuss much – in fact he curtly answered 13 questions in just four minutes and 19 seconds, with an embargoed section for Monday’s papers even shorter. Mourinho wasn’t willing to discuss Paul Pogba’s comments that the attitude wasn’t right in United’s defeat at Brighton, or how he views the progress of centre-backs Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly since joining the club – and his response to questions about whether there is any problem in his relationship with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward was met with a single word answer – “no”.
