So you’d accept sixth position?
“I didn’t say that. No, I wouldn’t accept it, no. I wouldn’t accept it, but it’s not so much accepting it, it’s about trying to finish as high as you possibly can, you know, and we’ll see how we get on.”
Champions League is obviously the target now. This time last year, Ruben [Amorim] was sat in that chair and he’d be telling us about, in terms of the summer market, that there was a plan in place for if they did qualify for the Champions League and plan if they didn’t. I wondered, is that the case now and how different does it look depending on those two outcomes?
“Yeah, listen, there’s obviously work that’s going into planning for the summer, there has to be. There’s no two ways around that. But in terms of two plans, I’m not going to delve into the detail too much. I think it’s pretty obvious to everyone to understand if you finish certain places in the league and financially it makes a lot of difference to if you don’t. So, I think that’s pretty obvious. But there’s certainly work going on in terms of what can be done and trying to move forward and improving the squad and making the best of what we’ve got.”
You only have to look at the league table and the results to see that you’ve been good for Manchester United, but has it been good for you as well? I mean, after the disappointment of Middlesbrough, you’ve shown over the last few months that you’re a manager that can manage right at the very top of the Premier League.
“Yeah, I haven’t really give it thought in that way. I think it’s just keep working and keep improving, really, and loving this place. And, as I’ve said already, for me, it’s the ultimate job to be in this role, and kind of whatever’s gone in the past, it’s all experience, you learn from it, just because you have a bit of a setback doesn’t mean necessarily you can’t then achieve. And it’s the same way, just because you’ve achieved a little bit doesn’t necessarily mean you keep achieving. So, I think it’s about keep pushing and learning and changing and evolving, and experience definitely does that. The experience for me at Middlesbrough was huge and really positive in so many ways, to be honest. So, I’ll keep trying to take that as well as the experience of being here for so long. It all comes together in that pot, really, that you kind of draw on and trying to use when you need it.”
Michael, I know you said earlier that there’s nothing immediate to announce on contracts, but are you confident that Kobbie Mainoo will sign a new deal as well?
“Obviously, we’d like to think so, yeah, and it’s getting closer, so you know we’re positive with that. We’re calm with it, but we’re positive with it, and time will tell how it goes, but at the moment we’re in a good place with it.”
I know you’re still in Champions League as well in terms of recruitment. How important is Champions League to maybe keep hold of some of your players, because I know there’s been so much interest in the past in someone like Bruno Fernandes. Is it important that you’re in the Champions League, so that you can reward him and keep him with the club really?
“I think Champions League just brings so many positive things, and it’s where we want to be, there’s no getting away from that, and that has ramifications for so many different things, whether that’s players staying, if it is that, if it’s players coming in. It’s, financially, all sorts of different things. It’s where we want to be, you know, and we need to try and get used to being in there more often.”
