Gary Neville: Manchester United should not sack Jose Mourinho mid-season

Gary Neville is adamant Manchester United should not consider sacking Jose Mourinho until the end of the season at the earliest.

Monday night's 3-0 defeat at home to Tottenham came on the back of last weekend's 3-2 loss at Brighton as the club suffered two defeats in their opening three fixtures for the first time since 1992.

United finished 19 points behind Manchester City last season and did not win a trophy, but Neville says the club must stand by their man and not look to bring in a fourth manager since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2013.

He told Monday Night Football: "We saw Louis van Gaal sacked after an FA Cup final victory, we saw David Moyes sacked with four games to go of a season, so we are no longer talking about a football club that is behaving as it has historically done.

"I accept these are different times and I accept the difficulties and challenges, but my honest view as I stand here now is that Ed Woodward gave him a contract last season, only seven or eight months ago, and he should see that contract through to the end and do the job.

"You can't keep jumping around with managers. I hear the third-year Mourinho stories and all the rest of it and you can't disagree with those stories because there is some history.

"But what I would say is it's time now for Manchester United to batten down the hatches and for Jose Mourinho and Ed Woodward to sort themselves out if there is a problem there.

"Get the team right for the rest of the season because the club is bigger than any individual. They have to get themselves sorted because it's not a time for in-fighting and politics."

Mourinho has only gone into a fourth straight season with a club once in his managerial career, but Neville pointed out the only club that has sacked him during a season was Chelsea in both 2007 and 2015.

He said United should not consider making a change during this season - and should aim to let him see out the remaining two years on his deal.

Mourinho added: "He saw the end of his contract at Inter Milan, he saw the end of his contract at Porto and he saw the end of his contract at Real Madrid.

"It's only at Chelsea, which is a club of madness, where this has happened. At Inter Milan, Porto and Real Madrid he saw it to the end so let's not rewrite history. At Chelsea, everybody dies a little bit early. It's that type of club, he's not on his own there.

"It was tough for him at Real Madrid and he got through to the end of the season. I don't see it happening during the season.

"To suggest that Manchester United are like Chelsea is not right. I have to say Manchester United still do things slightly differently.

"In the last few years there has been an erosion of the beliefs. Jamie Carragher said last week the morals and traditions and bringing through British kids has gone out of the window when they sacked David Moyes and brought in Louis van Gaal.

"I get that and I understand that, but it is still too early - three games into the season - to start suggesting there should be a change of manager.

"Nothing could be further from the truth. It has to be that Jose Mourinho is allowed to go through and complete this season. If he does well he should go through the next season as well, which is when his contract runs out."

Credit: Skysports.com