Simon Jordan: Man United have a weakling in charge, Jose Mourinho was last true leader

Simon Jordan believes Michael Carrick looks weak and under further pressure at Manchester United after Lisandro Martinez’s outburst. Martinez called out the United board, including sporting director Jason Wilcox, in a furious post-match rant after they lost their fourth match this season in a 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid. talkSPORT understands that senior players share his frustrations with the hierarchy after an underwhelming summer window, during which key areas in need of improvement were overlooked for midfielders. United are winless in five matches across all competitions and Carrick , who impressed as head coach during the second half of last season before taking on the job full-time, faces uncertainty in the dugout. Martinez’s comments have only added to the chaos at Old Trafford, and Jordan believes it has impacted his boss amid a tough spell. Martinez rant makes Carrick look ‘weak’ The former Crystal Palace owner was asked on White and Jordan for what he would do with Martinez if he was in charge at United, and said: “That’s an irrelevance. What do you do? “You fine him, who cares? You fine him because you can make sport of it, but what does it achieve? You look at the overall position that you’ve created, you put people in there.” He added: “What it does, it makes Michael Carrick look like a twerp, it makes Michael Carrick look weak. He doesn’t need his players to speak for him.” Jordan later confirmed: “It puts more and more pressure on Carrick. “He looked like a stuttering weakling on the weekend (the 1-1 draw vs Tottenham), with respect to him. “He’s a very nice character from what I understand. “I told you from the outset that I don’t think he wanted the job and really wanted to be a manager, you’re seeing the comments come out from players that know him.” Nicky Butt previously said Carrick told him before taking the United job that management is ‘too much’. Mourinho was last ‘top-drawer’ leader It has been 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as United manager after a legendary spell that brought 13 Premier League titles, as well as two Champions Leagues, five FA Cups and four League Cups. The club have struggled to appoint anyone capable of delivering such success, with David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Erik ten Hag, and Ruben Amorim falling way below past standards. However, former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho won the Europa League and League Cup during his stint from 2016 to 2018, and Jordan claims he is the last manager with any authority to take the United hotseat. “United lack leadership, they lack real top-drawer leadership. They had it previously, they didn’t know what it looked like. “They had it – you might not have liked Mourinho’s style of football, you might not like his attitude, but they would bite their arms off at the shoulder for Mourinho to be back in charge of Man United, delivering outcomes he did five or six years ago. “At that time, it was considered not good enough because the proximity to what Ferguson had had was too close. Now you’re 13 years down the line, and they’re grateful now for getting into the Champions League.”