United in name only. Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba’s broken relationship looks about as harmonious as Sonny and Cher. There is probably more chance of Manchester United winning the Premier League this season than either man resolving their training ground tête-à-tête for the good of the club.

None of this is leading to the Palace of Wisdom. Who wins is neither here nor there. Only United supporters lose.

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In particular, Pogba’s conduct in recent days has been dismal. His behaviour and indifferent form is unbefitting of a United player, never mind captain. Or a second captain. Of which Mourinho has confirmed he is neither now.

Mourinho’s decision to make Pogba his vice-captain after winning the World Cup proved to be a misguided act of faith to get Pogba on side. It has failed. He has produced an outcome less desirable than losing a third-round League Cup match to Derby County on penalties.

An 'apparently rested' Pogba’s decision to dress up like Floyd Mayweather for his trip to Old Trafford on Tuesday and post unamusing, misguided and childish videos to his 28.8m Instagram followers while his team-mates were struggling against Frank Lampard’s Championship team only endorsed Mourinho's call to rid him of the captaincy for good.

You don’t entrust the captain’s armband to a player whose of idea of team bonding is to undermine his coach with underhand tactics. If he wants to engineer a move to Barcelona in January, he is going the right way about it, his agent Mino Raiola might argue.

Mourinho’s dismay with Pogba apparently prompted him to quiz the player during training on Wednesday with the clip going viral. The player looked at Mourinho like he was being lectured by a drunk man. There and then you see a bloke who is only interested in himself rather than the greater good.

It is ironic that the social fabric of United appears to be coming apart at the seams only a day after the club celebrated their social media reach. United have 71.5m followers on Facebook. More than the NBA, NHL and NFL combined, said the club’s managing director Richard Arnold.

No doubt, United’s socially aware hierarchy will be interested to note than Pogba’s verbal joust with Mourinho was watched by over 7m viewers on Twitter at the last count. And a further 350,000 when audio was added to Mourinho’s mutterings as the manager put him on the spot.

“We are the biggest sports team in the world, measured by the number of fans," said chief executive Ed Woodward on Monday.

The biggest sports brand, but there are pub players more professional than Pogba.

The lack of respect seemed to be obvious at the training ground, but it was out in the open days before when Pogba decided to go public with his frustrations following the 1-1 draw with Wolves in the Premier League. Which is okay if you are the club's outstanding player, but not when you are merely part of the wider malaise.

By claiming United must “attack, attack, attack” he gave off the impression, probably on purpose, that Mourinho had not ordered his team to attack at Old Trafford. Unthinkable for such a club. It was the last thing Mourinho required with his team languishing seventh in the Premier League, eight points behind leaders Liverpool.

It was a cheap shot designed to add more pressure to a manager, whose traditional preferences for a disciplined, defensive style has been widely lamented by commentators since he arrived in the job over two years ago.

Whatever is made of Mourinho’s suitability to the role of United manager, he remains one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game. He does not need insubordinate players willing to go against his wishes in public.

Whatever happened to keeping a low profile, and respecting the manager’s wishes? Or showing deference to the badge you represent? It seemed that died a death when Sir Alex Ferguson departed the scene. But yet Fergie was also a manager who could not please Pogba or Raiola, who engineered his move to Juve six years ago.

Jose Mourinho, Paul Pogba Image credit: Reuters

There is no longer any sense of duty to the fans. Or dedication. If Pogba put the fans before himself, he would tow the line and keep his grievances with Mourinho private. He would also put the social media garbage on the back burner. Whether he likes Mourinho is not the issue. He needs to be the bigger man, and show discipline and self-restraint. Barcelona would not put up with Pogba's eccentricities any more than Mourinho.

But Pogba is a product of the social media age when players can use other channels to make their feelings public. It was known that Teddy Sheringham and Andy Cole did not like each other in Fergie's all-conquering side of the 1990s and early noughties, but they combined to help United win the treble of League, FA Cup and Champions League in 1999. They did so because they were professional. Not the tinpot characters of today. David Beckham used to deliver for United without letting the distraction of dating a Spice Girl affect his form back in the day.

The sense of entitlement prevalent in society is summed up perfectly by Pogba, who epitomises a pampered, precious generation of player lacking genuine commitment. He has returned to Old Trafford a World Cup winner without yet proving why or how he managed the feat.

Pogba's Instagram makes him more than a player. He is a commodity. And he brings in cash for United with his social media antics which will have United's directors drooling. Even if his conduct suggests he is dislocated from reality. Like Katie Hopkins in a pair of predators.

Mourinho might be on borrowed time as United manager, but Pogba, lacking in any form of self-awareness on or off the pitch. is hardly going to be the answer to their misery. He won't stick around long enough. If Mourinho's team lacks style, Pogba lacks class. For almost £90m, Pogba has not been worth the hassle.

Desmond Kane

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