José Mourinho has said David Moyes’s sacking by Manchester United was the kind of experience all top managers must go through but is clear he would have relished following Sir Alex Ferguson because of the squad that was left behind.

Moyes replaced Ferguson in the summer of 2013 but struggled almost instantly and lost his job the following April after 34 Premier League games in charge. This came 10 months into a six-year contract. Mourinho is the third manager to follow Ferguson, Louis van Gaal having superseded Moyes and spent two seasons in charge.

Of Moyes, whose Boxing Day arrival at Old Trafford with Sunderland is his first return as a manager, Mourinho said: “I think a manager that’s not sacked is not a manager, or at least is not a good manager. We have to be sacked. So I think it was just a bad moment in David’s career and he has to do what I did [post-Chelsea], what we all do, move on and he did that. After Manchester United he went to Spain [Real Sociedad], also a different experience for him, then back to England, back in the Premier League. He moved on and this is what we have to do and [Alan] Pardew has to do the same.”

The 53-year-old joked that Pardew’s removal on Thursday by Crystal Palace was not the kindest given its timing. “They could have sacked him a couple of days later on Christmas Day, which would have been even nicer,” said Mourinho. “He has to move on, enjoy his family and a new job will arrive. I’m like this. I’m pragmatic. No problem. It’s part of football.”

It was put to Mourinho that Moyes’s challenge was greater at United than his because the Scot directly followed Ferguson, a manager considered the greatest in domestic history. Mourinho said: “I wouldn’t mind to be at a club with great expectations but to have Ryan Giggs and Chicharito [Javier Hernández], I think [Nemanja] Vidic still in the team. [Patrice] Evra. I wouldn’t mind.

“I don’t feel it as a burden. I feel the great history of the club as only a positive thing and not negative things. The problem is, if you have the conditions to follow that success of history. And then that’s a different story.”

Mourinho offered some understanding for Moyes. “The only thing is Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Giggs and [Nicky] Butt – all those guys 25, 26, 27; it’s another thing to have them at 31, 32,” he said, as Moyes had only a 39-year-old Giggs when he took over.

“Obviously that plays a part, so there are generations and in a certain period when David came the situation was not so easy; not so easy to go in that winning direction. At the same time – I think this is even more important – the Premier League was changing.”

Mourinho has been disciplined by the Football Association this season for two separate incidents in which he commented about the referees Mark Clattenburg and Anthony Taylor. Yet Arsène Wenger is not facing any potential sanction for his view that Martin Atkinson allowed two offside goals in Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday.

Mourinho said: “I’m not surprised. I can’t say more than that. But I’m not surprised. When I read his quotes I felt there would be no problem – for him. It doesn’t irritate me because I’m not happy with the problems others have. Some people, not just in football but in life, it looks like they are happy, not with the things they get but happy with bad things others get.

“I’m not like that. I’m not happy other people are in trouble or have problems. I’m just unhappy when I have them. That’s it.”