It was after a September 2016 Europa League game vs. Feyenoord that I first heard it suggested. "Do you think Mourinho is finished? I can't see him being here too long if this is what it's like," a journalist said after Manchester United had been beaten 1-0 in Rotterdam.
Jose Mourinho had been manager for three months and United, who had been beaten at home days earlier by Manchester City and would lose at Watford the following weekend, were mired in a run of three straight defeats. That they began the 2016-17 season with three straight Premier League wins had long been forgotten.