Mourinho & Spurs to stay at budget £70-a-night hotel before Man Utd game (Mail)

Jose Mourinho will shun a return to the five-star hotel he called home in Manchester - for a £70-a-night Crowne Plaza in student land.

The Tottenham manager heads back to the north west city on Wednesday ahead of a clash with former employers United on Wednesday night.

However, he will not be returning to the plush Lowry, in Manchester city centre, at which he controversially stayed for two-and-a-half years during his Old Trafford rein in an £816-a-night suite.

Instead, Sportsmail understands that the Portuguese and his squad will base themselves at the Crowne Plaza, in the heart of Manchester's university area.

The newly-built hotel, opposite the city's famous Royal Northern College of Music, is becoming popular with teams visiting United thanks largely to the midweek traffic issues which Mourinho famously moaned about while in charge at the Theatre of Dreams.

On one occasion, United's team bus - travelling from the Lowry - got stuck on its way to the stadium. As a result, the kick-off of their Champions League match with Valencia was delayed by five minutes, leaving the club with a £13,000 fine from Uefa.

And even after switching to a hotel less than a mile from Old Trafford, problems persisted with Mourinho famously getting off the vehicle and walking the final half mile for a subsequent fixture with Juventus.

The 212-room Crowne Plaza opened last year and has already won rave reviews from customers. It features a gym, club lounge and 'Graduate Bar'. However, its location means that coaches can take a back route through nearby Hulme to Old Trafford - crucially avoiding crippling rush hour traffic and typically arriving in less than 15 minutes.

Mourinho attracted criticism for staying at the Lowry, with some claiming his refusal to buy or rent a property underlined a lack of commitment to United.

There are no such problems at Spurs, with the new manager based in London.