A former member of Manchester United's coaching staff has conceded that life at the club during Jose Mourinho's reign was often a "nightmare".
Rod Thornley spent 19 years at Old Trafford and gained quite the insight into how the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss operated while at the helm of the Red Devils. Mourinho's time at the club underwhelmed, though he did secure two pieces of silverware during his time in the hot seat.
The Portuguese coach was appointed in the summer of 2016 as a replacement for Louis van Gaal and though he won both the Carabao Cup and Europa League, persistent fall-outs with key players like Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw were a regular theme of Mourinho's tenure.
Thornley opened up on how Mourinho fared behind the scenes during his two-and-a-half year spell in charge of United during a candid interview with Under the Cosh podcast, during which the former physio admits he loved working with the former Inter Milan manager.
"The best way I can explain Jose is on his good days, he was amazing to work for and he made me feel brilliant," Thornley confessed. "It made me feel better than Sir Alex [Ferguson] ever did. He made me a part of his little close circle and I loved it."
However, the ex-United physio did confess that Mourinho's regular mood swings meant players would often take issue with their manager whenever he was in a hump.
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"On his bad days, God he was a nightmare. He knew I'll talk to a player and knew well to p*** a player off and stuff," Thornley added.
"It just depended on where he was at, not just that day, but that part of his contract and towards the end he was really hard work. But at the start, he was the first two years really Jose was was brilliant.
"He was a prankster. So like when you get on a plane going on pre-season and stuff, he'd be one of them putting like whipped cream in people's hands so when they wake up people they'd go like that [splat motion]."
Mourinho's United legacy is one that still divides opinion to this day, though it is undeniable he fared better at Old Trafford than he did at his next job as manager of fellow Premier Leaue side Tottenham.
The serial winner failed to end the club's lengthy trophy drought and was sacked in April 2021. Mourinho is currently the boss of Serie A outfit Roma, where he won the inaugural Europa Conference League last term.
