ALL the messages coming out of Manchester United were very positive.
The appointment of a coach who “has proved himself to be one of the most exciting and successful coaches in Europe, renowned for his team’s attractive, attacking football and commitment to youth”.
That was April 21, 2022, and the words of then football director John Murtough on the announcement that Erik ten Hag was becoming the new manager of Manchester United.
Hang on, haven’t we heard all of this before?
Remember, there was also the bloke after Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2013 who had “all the skills needed to build on United’s phenomenal legacy”.
So said chief executive Ed Woodward and yet just ten months into a six-year contract, David Moyes was gone.
Wait. Then Woodward also introduced the next man who had “a track record of winning leagues and cups across Europe making him the perfect choice… we have secured the services of one of the outstanding managers in the game today”.
That was Louis van Gaal, who went on to bore Old Trafford rigid with his football and get the boot straight after winning an FA Cup.
Fear not! Because in May 2016 it was announced by Woodward that United had secured “quite simply the best manager in the game today”.
A man Woodward was barely on speaking terms with two and a half years later as Jose Mourinho exited after two cups and a second-placed finish, which the Special One described as one of his greatest achievements.
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He was not even ‘Special’ enough.
So, that was five years since Sir Alex went and three bosses down.
It was now time to rediscover ‘the soul’ of Manchester United under a man who said he knew it’s DNA.
He would also find the revolving door at Old Trafford that had spun out those who went before.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left with tears in his eyes after believing he had come “so close” to achieving something special.
Let’s not forget too all the interims and caretakers along the way — Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and, of course, Ralf Rangnick, who told the club they needed “open heart surgery” and now Ruud van Nistelrooy after Dutchman Ten Hag’s sacking on Monday.
But the club believe they really have cracked it this time because in Ruben Amorim they have, as a club statement said, “one of the most exciting and highly rated young coaches in European football”.
Sorry, I thought that was Ten Hag.
The 39-year-old is also “highly decorated as both a player and coach”.
Highly decorated in Portugal anyway, as Ten Hag was in Holland.
The Premier League, however, is another level again and 11 years since Sir Alex bid farewell, the club is as far away as ever from challenging to win it.
The point here is that there are no guarantees coming with this bloke either.
Ten Hag had studied United long before Murtagh and the then chief executive Richard Arnold arrived to interview him.
They were bowled over by the amount of information he had on them and the details of his plans to put United back on track.
He will claim he did just that with two trophies but after that first season it just never looked right.
The club wanted a disciplinarian and yet the way he handled Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho was, in the end, used as a stick to beat him with.
WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.
Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.
But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.
Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.
He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers.
The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.
And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.
Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.
Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.
United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”
And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.
For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
‘Head coach’ Amorim will find dealing with this club and this level of player very different to Sporting Lisbon, where he was the highly lauded and respected boss who landed them two titles.
The players responded to him, the football was marvellous — and he is now going to try and make that happen at Old Trafford.
There will no doubt be a jump when he first arrives, there always is under a new boss. Ole won ten of his first 11 games.
The problem comes when performances dip and you are left dealing with a dressing room of highly paid stars all too ready to down tools because they know, in the end, the manager will carry the can.
That has happened in every instance since Sir Alex went. So why won’t it happen again?
Amorim will have his own ideas on how to play in a 3-4-3 as he tries to reprogramme players and club who have been reprogrammed so many times it is a wonder Carrington has not short-circuited.
The facts are that while £545.9million was lavished on this squad under Ten Hag, it is still not very good.
The first team can be beaten by anyone in the Premier League. At their best they are not as good as any club currently in the top six.
The mood in the dressing room is rock-bottom and there are sulky stars everywhere you look.
This is probably a bigger job now than it was for any manager post-Fergie.
This club is a giant, a monster and nobody seems able to control it.
It has eaten up and spat out some of the biggest and best names in the game.
Now we have someone who it clearly seems won’t have it all his own way as he is the first to be named ‘head coach’ in the club’s history rather than the manager.
Which suggests there will be plenty of influence from the management team assembled above him by new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox are set to be much more hands-on than they felt able to be in their brief time working with Ten Hag.
Above them, new chief exec Omar Berrada has spoken about a three-year plan to have the club winning the Prem by the 2027-28 season and celebrate their 150th year in style.
Amorim will still be in charge at Old Trafford then, if the club have triggered the year extension in his contract — but nobody should be holding their breath.
The state the club are in at the moment, it will take until then just to get back into the top four.
Sorry to sound cynical but how else can you view the current situation on the evidence of the last decade or more.
So, welcome Ruben, hope it goes well… until the next best coach in Europe is left to pick up the pieces.
