Sir Alex Ferguson has appeared to offer Jose Mourinho some advice by suggesting that giving youth a chance is so crucial to any manager.
Mourinho is back in football after being appointed the new head coach of Tottenham following Mauricio Pochettino’s sacking on Tuesday night.
The Portuguese has been out of work since being sacked by Manchester United in December of last year, with him most recently working as a pundit for beIN SPORTS and Sky Sports.
And speaking in his first press conference on Thursday afternoon, the former Chelsea manager revealed how he was looking forward to working with Spurs’ squad, in what appears to be a change in his philosophy.
“I really like this squad,” Mourinho said. “Looking to the young players, there is not one manager in the world that doesn’t like to play young players and to help young players develop. There is not one.
“The problem is that sometimes you get into clubs where the work that is below you is not good enough to produce these players so I look to our history and you see that the academy is always giving the talents that the first team need.
“Of course I look forward to work with that profile.”
Mourinho has been criticised in the past for not always playing the talented young players at his disposal, with him instead opting to spend big-money on high-profile names at other clubs.
But Ferguson believes it is crucial that the next generation are given opportunities at first-team level.
“The thing about young people is, if you give them an opportunity, not only do they seize it, they never let you down,” Ferguson told talkSPORT.
“They have enthusiasm to do well.
“If we go back to the young lads of ‘92, you give them an opportunity to play for Man United in front of 75,000 and they don’t want to miss that.
“And they all did very well, and they’re also very good human beings.”
