A frustrating summer in the transfer market led the United boss to forewarn of a “difficult season”, with the Portuguese highlighting the first few weeks as a particular challenge.
Mourinho’s men opened the campaign with a 2-1 home win against Leicester but their first Premier League away game ended in embarrassment as Brighton triumphed 3-2 to intensify scrutiny at Old Trafford.
Executive vice-chairman Woodward rushed into the dressing room after the final whistle and left typing a message on his phone after five minutes.
He did not wait to see Mourinho, who was conducting TV interviews at the time.
And it’s now been claimed that the pair are not talking after the shambolic summer.
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TV pundit Jan Aage Fjortoft tweeted: “Sad to see the state of Man UTD this summer and the last couple of weeks. It’s not a global club worthy. A CEO and a manager not on speaking terms (so it seems for all of us). Time for the board to sort this out. One must go. Or maybe both. This is embarrassing.”
Odds on Mourinho becoming the first manager to leave their post tumbled in the wake of the shambolic south-coast display.
But United sources insist the under-fire Mourinho retains the club’s full backing.
“Why would we discuss him when there is no job available?” a senior United source said when Zidane was mentioned as a replacement for Mourinho.
There are also fears over the future of Paul Pogba, whose United future remains in doubt after agent Mino Raiola responded to criticism of the midfielder by hitting out at former Old Trafford favourite Paul Scholes.
Speaking after United’s loss at Brighton on Sunday, Scholes had some damning words for the club’s record signing.
Pogba captained the Red Devils as they went down 3-2 on the south coast, with Scholes questioning the World Cup winner’s leadership capabilities following an average performance.
“There’s a lack of leaders in the team, that’s why we thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn’t there tonight. He had another really poor game. He’s so inconsistent,” Scholes told Optus Sport.
“Pogba was playing the ball out of play, overhitting passes and getting caught in possession.”
But Raiola defended his client, sending two barbed tweets on Tuesday morning which called Scholes’ judgement into question.
“Some people need to talk for fear of being forgotten. Paul Scholes wouldn’t recognize a leader if he was in front of Sir Winston Churchill. @paulpogba,” he wrote.
“Paul Scholes should become sports director and advise Woodward to sell Pogba. Would be sleepless nights to find Pogba a new club..@paulpogba.”