HE was branded an enemy of football, accused of the betrayal of a world famous club’s ethos, of serving up less fun that toothache and even touting for his next job.

Who could attract so much attention from a scoreless, cheerless draw from a game that is supposedly a collision of the biggest rivals in the English game? Who else but Jose Mourinho?

Not that any of the accusations will have worried the present Manchester United manager – the papers will still love him –and, anyway, he had a perfectly prepared answer for all the negative stories after the Anfield bore draw. It was all Jurgen Klopp’s fault for not taking off defenders so that United could show off their attacking talents.

There was a time when a draw at Liverpool was a good result for United, but not this season, so maybe it was a good time to put forward his next plan as clearly the Old Trafford managerial job is not quite the dream position he had expected.

That is now in France, at Paris St Germain.

Jose has announced that he will not end his career in Manchester, and PSG would make an attractive stopover for his next project. His son is now a big fan of the French club because, according to Jose there is “something special, magic, quality, youth, it’s fantastic.”

He admits he is a coach with ambitions and with a desire to do new things. But just not in Manchester.

At least he wasn’t the only boss under fire.

It was not a good weekend for high-profile managers. Arsene Wenger was angry because his team lost at Watford – he claimed the Hornets’ penalty was a “scandalous” decision, which was a bit over the top even for Wenger.

Ronald Koeman’s job at Everton hangs by a thread, saved only by Wayne Rooney’s last-minute penalty at Brighton, and even at Chelsea there are mutterings from Antonio Conte that his champions are facing an emergency after managing what no other team has done so far – losing to Crystal Palace.

All this adds up to only one conclusion – who is going to finish second in the Premier League this season?

One manager who can stop worrying for a while is Gordon Strachan.

Having failed for the third time to get Scotland through to the finals of a major tournament, he has been removed from his Scotland job.

Not a surprise really, but there must be a better time to sack a manager than at the end of a whole year in which your team has not lost a match. Perhaps it was because of something he said.

SITTING in a bar trying to persuade a group of French football fans that England are not quite as boring as they look on the screen isn’t easy. I’ve tried it.

Maybe it was a language problem, or perhaps I just picked a bad time – a 1-0 win over Lithuania thanks to a Harry Kane penalty was not the ideal advert for England.

But I tried to do my bit for pre-Brexit relations only to find that maybe Gareth Southgate’s team really are as dull as they look.

So I am grateful to England midfielder turned pundit Chris Waddle, with 62 caps, for his column in which he reckons they are.

He isn’t alone with his view that, despite going through their qualifying group undefeated – again – things will be different when they get to Russia.

Waddle was always a bit of a maverick on the field so it is hardly surprising that he is not a great lover of organised, regimented footballers who are over-coached.

“The players all have immaculate physiques, there is not a fat lazy luxury player in sight. And they are passing it 10 yards to someone who passes it 10 yards to someone who passes it 10 yards to someone who passes it 10 yards to someone who goes backwards.

“They are scared of giving it away and you’re creaming: ‘Where are you going!’.”

I assume that’s what my French friends were trying to tell me with their hand weaving signals across the table.

Maybe we will surprise a few out in Russia; Harry Kane will win the Golden Boot, Messi and Ronaldo will be overshadowed by Eric Dier and Jordan Henderson and Southgate will return home having achieved what only Alf Ramsey has ever managed –and that was more than 50 years ago.

Then again, perhaps we will all be planning for the World Cup in Qatar and bemoaning the lack of quality English players in the Premier League.

THE sport’s press is full of it this week – New York is about to become the latest addition to the rugby league family by making a formal application to join Toronto Wolfpack as the second North American franchise.

I would like to report that I have all the details about funding, playing strength, coaching staff, fan base and everything else that will be needed to join the great adventure.

Unfortunately, I can’t. The reason is that for all the headline-grabbing hype, there is a distinct lack of detail such as names behind the plan, save for the fact that their games will be played in the 25,000-seater home of New York Red Bulls football team.

So, clubs like Barrow Raiders can look forward to trips to Canada, USA, and France in a couple of years’ time. I hope it works – I really do.

In the meantime, there is talk of revamping Super League, League One, of long-established clubs such as Oldham, Swinton, Bradford and Salford hitting the buffers. Still, at least there’s always New York, New York to sing about.