Mourinho predicted Man United downfall with iconic 12-min press conference rant

An iconic Jose Mourinho press conference in 2018 still does the rounds on social media today.

The legendary manager found himself turned into a meme for repeating the phrase 'football heritage' in a 12-minute rant.

But was Mourinho actually making quite a profound argument about the demise of Manchester United? One that rings true in 2023?

Erik ten Hag's men became the latest Red Devils outfit to fail in Europe as a disastrous Champions League campaign ended on Tuesday night.

United even missed out on a place in the Europa League after finishing rock bottom of their group, below Bayern Munich, Copenhagen and Galatasaray.

It continues a ten-year decline at Old Trafford, both domestically and in Europe, since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.

Speaking in 2018, former United boss Mourinho suggested he inherited a bad culture and years of failure, setting unrealistic expectations at the club.

"I say to the fans that the fans are the fans and have the right to their opinions and reactions but there is something that I used to call 'football heritage'," he told the media after United were dumped out of Europe by Sevilla.

"I don't know if, I try to translate from my Portuguese, which is almost perfect, to my English, which is far from perfect – 'football heritage', what a manager inherits.

"It is something like the last time Manchester United won the Champions League, which didn't happen a lot of times, was in 2008. Since 2011, 2012, out in the group phase, the group was almost the same group we had this season – Benfica, Basel and [Otelul] Galati from Romania. Out in the group phase.

"In 2013, out at Old Trafford in the last 16, I was on the other bench. In 2014, out in the quarter-final.

"In 2015, no European football. In 2016, comes back to European football, out in the group phase, goes to Europa League and on the second knockout out of the Europa League.

"In 2017, play Europa League, win Europa League with me and goes back to Champions League. In 2018, win the group phase with 15 points out of a possible 18 and loses at home in the last 16.

"So, in seven years with four different managers, once not qualify for Europe, twice out in the group phase and the best was the quarter-final. This is football heritage.

"If you want to go to the Premier League, the last victory was 2012-13 and in the four consecutive seasons United finish fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. So in the last four years, the best was fourth. This is football heritage."

Mourinho added: “In the last seven years the worst position of Manchester City was fourth. In the last seven years Manchester City was champions twice and if you want to say three times [meaning this season, too], and they were second twice. That's heritage.

“Do you know what is also heritage? Is that [Nicolas] Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, [David] Silva, [Raheem] Sterling, [Sergio] Aguero, they are investments from the past, not from the last two years [since Pep Guardiola took over].

"The United players that left the club last season – see where they play, how they play, if they play."

The players who left the Red Devils before the 2017/18 season were Wayne Rooney, Adnan Januzaj, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, Víctor Valdes, Paddy McNair, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Donald Love.

Many laughed at Mourinho for his 'excuses', but five years later, Ten Hag appears to have similar feelings about the club.

The Dutchman often calls out a lack of elite mentality and quality in his squad, dating back years.

Ten Hag is the eighth United manager, temporary or permanent, since 2013 - and none can argue they have achieved real success.

Both Mourinho and Ten Hag have been able to deliver silverware and get United into the top four, while the former even suggested finishing second with the Red Devils in 2017/18 was among his greatest achievements.

Increasingly, the Old Trafford hotseat feels like a poisoned chalice, something so broken that it takes more than an elite manager to fix it.

Maybe it is 'football heritage' after all.