Mourinho managed United for two-and-a-half seasons, from May 2016 until he was sacked in December 2018 after a poor start to the season and a poor relationship with the board and media who hounded him when he arrived.
When he arrived, Rooney was heading into his third season as captain in what was a United side that was slowly heading into free fall. Mourinho’s debut campaign with United would be Rooney’s last but left with a League Cup medal which Rooney had a problem with after proper standards were not kept to.
Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show podcast, the former England international complained that Mourinho didn’t control his team’s attire and dressed inappropriately himself.
“I remember we went to the League Cup final and players were wearing the suits with big, bright yellow trainers and stuff like that. I went to Mourinho and said, ‘Listen, I've spoken to the players and you need to have a word here and to keep the standards. We can't have that going to Wembley into a cup final’.
“'He's like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I'll speak to them’. And then as we came down to leave, I've seen Jose there and he's got a zip-up top with no tie on. I was thinking, ‘What's the point?’ 'He was more relaxed on it, so, what's the point? Why am I even bothering with this? I think now it's just wear what you want and they have phones, caps, whatever trainers would suit.”
The Portuguese coach delivered both the League Cup and the Europa League in his first season, but United’s sixth-place Premier League finish led to him being sacked. Many feel like the lack of professional conduct after Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the biggest problems with the club which still persists after Mourinho’s departure.