Jose Mourinho is the new manager of Manchester United! The negotiations between the two sides have successfully completed yesterday and the 53-year-old Portuguese coach has signed his contract in a hotel in central London, “Sky Sports” said.

About 20 minutes after the meeting between Mourinho and the executive director of Manchester United Ed Woodward in the London hotel, the Portuguese manager was filmed to come home with papers and a bottle of wine in his hand. It has double cause for celebration because the date of 26th May 2016 marks 12 years since his first Champions League title with Porto.

Shortly afterwards Jose Mourinho was greeted by the former captain of the Red Devils Rio Ferdinand for Mourinho’s appointment as the manager of the biggest football club in the world.
“I can only say to Man United fans – they already have a real winner in all aspects. His CV speaks for itself. I can assure you that after his failure with Chelsea in the last year, Jose will be as a wounded animal,” Rio Ferdinand wrote on Facebook.

The official confirmation from the club came today, when Jose Mourinho posed with United’s kit in front of the journalists.

Jose Mourinho and Manchester United officially started negotiations after the dismissal of Louis van Gaal, who walked away from “Old Trafford” after two years at the club.

On Wednesday, “Sky Sports” announced that both parties have their contracts. Subsequently, it was announced that the signing of the contract was delayed because of several potential conflicts related to the image rights of the coach. However, now everything is done and Man United sign Mourinho!

“Becoming the manager of Manchester United is a special honour in this game. This is a club, which is known and revered throughout the world. It has a mystique and romance with which no other club can boast. I’ve always had an affinity for “Old Trafford”. This stadium has hosted some very important memories in my career so far. Between me and the United fans have always been understanding and I enjoyed this. I am looking forward to be their manager and I am sure I will enjoy their excellent support in the coming years,” Jose Mourinho said at the official website of the Reds Devils.

In my opinion, Chelsea made their biggest mistake when they sacked the Special One. Because everyone has his own failures. And you must be patient with people, who have proven their abilities and have shown what they can do in football.

Jonathan Woodgate had been one of the strongest defenders in English football for the last two decades. He was very good in the air and was making great tackles. Woodgate was born to be the team’s leader with his passion and good skills on the pitch.

The English defender started his career at Leeds United in 1998. He was part of the team, which reached the semi-finals in The UEFA Cup (1999/2000). Then, he took part in 5 games in Leeds United’s campaign in the Champions League, when The Peacocks lost in the semi-final matches to Valencia.

Woodgate proved his qualities at Leeds United and deserved his first appearance for The Three Lions in 1999. He made his debut for England in the European Championship qualifier against Bulgaria (1-1), but couldn’t secure his place in the squad for the Euro 2000.

After Leeds United relegated in 2003, Woodgate continued his professional career in Newcastle United. But, his period there was short due to injuries. Woodgate impressed in The UEFA Cup’s semi-final against Marseille, keeping Didier Drogba quiet, but shortly after his brilliant performance he received an injury and finished the season sidelined.

The defender spent two seasons at St. James’ Park, when he received an offer from the Spanish giant Real Madrid. You have to be insane to refuse such an offer. So, Jonathan head to Madrid.

However, he took part in only 14 matches for Los Blancos and scored once in The Champions League.

Then, Woodgate returned to The Premier League. Middlesbrough paid € 8.4 m. for the defender. Jonathan played two seasons at The Riverside Stadium, before leaving for Tottenham Hotspur.
At White Hart Lane, the defender won his only trophy – The Capital One cup (season 2007-2008). Jonathan Woodgate scored 3 goals in 63 games for Spurs in all competitions.

During his period at Tottenham, Woodgate reached the number of 8 caps for England, but he couldn’t maintain his place in the squad of The Three Lions.

In 2011, he left for Stoke City, but managed to play in only 21 matches for The Potters, without scoring a single goal for Stoke. Just a season later, Woodgate returned to his favourite Middlesbrough in The Championship. He is still part of the team, but at his age of 36 is a backup member of the team. Will we see Woodgate playing in The Premier League again? We will have to wait for the next season.

I decided to choose the perfect starting eleven, for me, in a 4-4-2 tactics. Sometimes, you don’t need the players with the best individual skills, in order to win a trophy, but a combination of players with concrete tasks on the pitch, who lead you to the victory. That’s exactly the way, Ranieri led Leicester City to The Premiership title. Of course, without quality figures you won’t be able to win anything, but the point is that everybody should help his teammates and work as a part of a machine.

So, the goalkeeper I decided to pick is Gianluigi Buffon. I think I don’t have to tell you the arguments… He is maybe the best goalkeeper in the world!

Right fullback – Gary Neville. The Englishman was very good at crossing the ball in the box. He had a great discipline and his tackling was world class. He was also very fast. So, Neville had all the needed qualities for right fullback.

Left fullback – Paolo Maldini. The Italian defender was AC Milan’s leader for over 24 years. He had great positioning on the pitch and had incredible tackling skills. Maldini also had good goal-scoring skills – he has found the net on about 40 occasions in his long career.

Centre backs – Fabio Cannavaro and Lucio. The Brazilian defender has won everything in football. He has recorded over 100 appearances for Brazil and was in the squad when his nation won The World Cup. Cannavaro was really good when getting ‘first balls’. Both were great at tackling and heading. Both could also score lots of goals.

Centre midfielders – Paul Scholes and Roy Keane. I need Keane in my squad, because he is the man, who will have to take the ball from the opponents. His tackling was incredible. Of course, sometimes you need to foul the opponent and Keane knew exactly when to do it. He made football look like a very simple game with his playing style. While Keane is going to take the ball, Scholes will have the task to pass the ball and organize the attacks. To me, he is the best midfielder in the world. Nobody has his accuracy in the long passing. He has also a powerful shoot. Scholes is full of energy and is also good in the air. He has a great vision.

We need two players who are really fast – to put them on both flanks. It will be really trivial if I pick Cristiano Ronaldo, so I won’t. Let’s make it more interesting… I will put Damien Duff on the left. But, the young version of Duff – from the time he was playing at Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea. He was very, very fast, which we can combine with Scholes’ great long passing.

Of course, I am not going to take Neymar in the squad – for the same reason I didn’t pick Ronaldo. The other reason is that we are going to show you old-fashioned football. This time I will make an exception and will take a man, who isn’t that fast, but has a great technique. This man is Luis Figo. He can make great deliveries, he can score goals from long distance. He can score from free-kicks and so on.

Okay then, we need two forwards. I prefer one of them to be fast and the other one being physically strong. So, no doubt my first choice will be Michael Owen and my last trump should be Alan Shearer. I think you all know what these two players are capable of…

This is my dream team and what’s yours?

Middlesbrough had a squad full of very good players during 2005/2006 season. The manager Steve McClaren could rely on players like the goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, the Dutch international Reizieger, English international defender Gareth Southgate, the veteran midfielder Ray Parlour, the Spanish playmaker Gaizka Mendieta, the Australian forward Mark Viduka, the Dutch striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, the ‘golden’ substitute Massimo Maccarone and many other good players.

So, The Boro started their participation in The UEFA Cup from the qualification round in September. They beat Greek side Xanthi 2-0 at The Riverside Stadium and held a 0-0 draw in their visit to Greece in the second leg. The victory won them a place in the group stage of the competition.

Middlesbrough met Grasshoppers Zurich in the first match of the group stage. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored the only goal of the game in the 10th minute and secured the three points for his team. Then, Boro recorded a 3-0 victory over Dnipro at home and almost secured their place in the direct eliminations of The UEFA Cup.

After a 0-0 draw against the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, Boro had to play against the Bulgarian team of Litex Lovech. Massimo Maccarone put on display his first really good performance of the competition. The Italian forward scored twice within the last 10 minutes and secured the first place in the group for his team.

The long cup run for Middlesbrough continued with very difficult matches against Stuttgart. Steve McClaren’s players recorded an amazing 2-1 away victory over the German team and despite they lost 0-1 at home, Boro proceeded to the next round.

Roma waited for the English team in the 1/8-finals. Yakubu converted a penalty into a goal in the 12th minute of the first leg at The Riverside stadium. Then, Boro lost 2-1 in Italy, but because of Hasselbaink’s away goal the team reached the quarterfinals.

But what is the special thing in Boro’s cup run? In the quarterfinals. Middlesbrough lost 2-0 to Basel in Switzerland. Then, Boro conceded an early goal… So, Steve McClaren’s players had to score 4 goals to qualify… And they did it! Maccarone scored in the very last minute to send Boro into the semi-finals.

In the semi-finals, Middlesbrough lost 0-1 to Steaua in the first leg. And, this time, conceded 2 early goals at The Riverside Stadium… Again 4 goals needed. Guess what happened. Maccarone scored the fourth goal again in the last minute, with a great header.

But in the final match Boro were so unlucky and lost 0-4 to Sevilla. However, the cup run was very incredible for Middlesbrough. Now, the team is in The Championship, but The Boro are very close to their return to The Premier League and we are waiting to see whether they can achieve something like this!