Jose Mourinho has given his verdict on Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Manchester United board overhaul

Jose Mourinho has never been one to hold back his true thoughts and was in usual form on TNT Sports for Saturday’s Champions League final.

The future Fenerbahce coach was on broadcaster duty as former club Real Madrid beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0. The former Manchester United boss has also been outspoken during his tenure at Old Trafford, at one point hinting at the club’s internal structure following his departure.

“We are no longer in a period where the coach alone is strong enough to cope,” he said in 2019. “The coach needs a structure these days, he needs a club organized in a certain kind.

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“The club must have an owner or chairman, a CEO or chief executive, a director of football and then the manager. This is the structure that can deal with all the problems that modernity brings to us all.

“A club has to be very well organized to deal with all these types of situations where the manager is just the manager and not the man trying to maintain discipline or trying to educate the players.”

Sir Jim Ratcliffe carried out a refurbishment of United’s boardroom shortly after his arrival as co-owner. Former CEO Richard Arnold and former director of football John Murtough have stepped down from their roles with other figures in the United hierarchy set to leave at the end of the campaign.

Omar Berreda will soon arrive from Manchester City as CEO, while Jason Wilcox has been installed as the new technical director. Dan Ashworth is being poached for the new sporting director role as United look to snap him out of gardening leave at Newcastle.

Mourinho has worked in many club setups throughout his career and praised Madrid’s system after lifting the Champions League trophy at Wembley. “The club is such a simple structure,” he said.

“The structure? Florentino Perez (president), Jose Angel Sanchez (CEO) and the chief scout – and the coach. Simplicity is genius.” Asked why other newer roles have been reduced in recent years, Mourinho replied: “Because it’s fashionable.”

United have a structure similar to that described by Mourinho, albeit with a slight difference. Naturally, Ratcliffe is head of sporting operations at United, while Berrada is the new CEO.

How the dynamic between Ashworth and Wilcox plays out when it comes to transfers remains to be seen, but the former will likely take the lead. Ratcliffe has tried to streamline the system with the best quality on the market and Mourinho will almost love the simplicity he has instilled.