Poor old Carlos Queiroz has lost his job as the manager of Portugal, with the FPF president Gilberto Madail making the announcement today.

“On the 14th we announced two objectives which needed to be satisfied. They were to qualify for the finals and to qualify for the elimination phase. Even though these objectives were met, we thought the result fell short of what we expected. After analysis it was decided to terminate Queiroz’s contract immediately.”

Portugal currently sit 4th out of 5 in their Euro qualifying group, behind Cyprus, after losing 1 and drawing 1.

I do wonder if Queiroz is a man whose eyes are too big for his belly. After wolfing down a respectable about at the all you can eat buffet, he’ll always go up for that one plate too many that makes him throw up.

At a certain level, he is excellent, but beyond that, he’s punching above his weight, as stints at Real Madrid and Portugal have shown.

Maybe I’ve being unkind, he didn’t get much of a chance in Madrid, thanks to the president at the time, Florentino Perez, who sold Makelele behind Queiroz’s back and wouldn’t back Queiroz’s decision to sign Pepe, amongst other things. Then with Portugal, the 6 month ban he stupidly brought on himself didn’t help, but Portugal had a disappointing World Cup. Although, didn’t everyone? It’s not as if even Spain or Holland set the world alight.

But at a lower level, Queiroz did a great job, first with the Portugal U-20. The Portuguese “Golden Generation”, which included the talents of Luis Figo and Rui Costa, was attributed to his scouting. His work with the Under-20s in Portugal, discovering talent, saw them develop and as the first team years late, reach the 2000 European Championship semi-finals, then finalists 4 years later, as well as the 2006 World Cup semis.

Then at United, as our number 2, he was fabulous. There’s no way we would have won the European Cup in 2008 if not for the tactics he brought in. Fancy being able to keep Barcelona at bay at the Nou Camp and Old Trafford?

I don’t blame him for leaving us either time. I think they are probably the only two jobs he would leave us for and they both happened to come up. He knew if he stayed as our number 2 he would probably get the United job one day, but he knew Sir Alex well and knew “one day” could be a long way away.

It’s a shame though because his career will most likely peter out when he could have been a part of lots more massive success at United.

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Would you still have Carlos Queiroz as United manager?