The Premier League season may not have started yet, but in any given soccer-loving group chat at any given time, there is probably a conversation about who Manchester United’s next manager might be. It is not just innocent offseason fodder that maintains the bonds of friendship, but also a signal of United’s realities. Ruben Amorim may only be nine months into the role and patiently awaiting the start of his first full season in charge, but his is a thankless job. He is the 10th person to hold the post since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013, not a single one reaching the three year mark during that time, even if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer somehow almost got there.
Amorim is the latest manager to walk willingly into what feels like an impossible situation, one created by the lingering shadow of Ferguson’s unparalleled success. The Red Devils’ glory days are more than a decade in the past, but that hardly matters to the club’s decision-makers, new and old. By the time Amorim’s name was floated around as Erik ten Hag’s successor, it was clear that the pressure to restore United’s prestige was suffocating, hindering the team’s ability to actually make meaningful strides. Coupled with mismanagement of epic proportions since Ferguson’s retirement, it has made a somewhat somewhat salacious question feel like an obvious one to ask: Will Amorim still have his job by Christmas?
United have chewed up and spit out managers in impressive fashion over the last decade, to the point that it feels like Amorim is destined to fail regardless of his actual talents, the higher-ups’ current belief in him entirely irrelevant. Squint, though, and you can see a path to normalcy for United after decades of living in extremes. There is a reality in which Amorim has an appropriate amount of time to prove his worth, nor is it all entirely out of his control; it all hinges on the Red Devils’ ability to accept the reality — and the long project ahead of them.
United enter rebuild mode (again)
Ferguson’s legacy may still loom large but his last match in charge took place weeks before United’s new No. 9, Benjamin Sesko, turned 10. The club’s heyday is no longer a fair measuring stick for the current team, no matter the internal and external pressure to return to the glory days. Recognizing that will be key for United’s current leaders to actually attempt a successful rebuild, in large part because a decade’s worth of short-term thinking has doomed them to their present realities.
The reasons why a wide selection of managers and players did not succeed at United may vary, but the turnover is as clear a signal as any of mismanagement at the highest levels. A year after betting big on Ten Hag and signing several players of his liking despite an eighth place Premier League finish and a group stage exit in the UEFA Champions League, United’s higher-ups, now led by minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, have treated Amorim the same way. The Red Devils have stacked one rebuild on top of another and have been in this pattern for the last decade, throwing away every advantage they have earned along the way. It is the main reason why United have gone from the Premier League’s most business-savvy team to one that will really feel the financial hit of missing out on European competition this season, digging themselves into an impressively deep hole.
As a result, the first question awaiting United as they hand Amorim the keys to the team for his first full season in charge is not whether or not he is the right fit — it is whether or not they give themselves enough time to figure that out. Their plan to build the team in Amorimi’s vision only started in earnest this summer, and a few months will not be enough time to correct United’s course, especially considering the mess Amorim inherited upon his arrival last fall. The most reasonable approach would be to use the start of this season to map out the next stage of the rebuild — and ensure this is a well thought-out project rather than the start-stop approach that has defined the Red Devils’ strategy since Ferguson’s retirement. After all, a decade of poor squad building cannot be fixed in one summer.
Is Amorim the right person for the job?
As much as United need to give Amorim ample time to put his plans into motion, the situation is not entirely out of the manager’s control. He may still be somewhat new to the role but, there are reasons to doubt if Amorim is actually the right manager for this particular job, making the next several months a crucial litmus test for the former Sporting Lisbon boss.
Amorim was right to insist last season that the squad he inherited was suited for his preferred 3-4-3 formation but even then, some of his tactical decisions were suspect. In the Europa League final, the manager said he arranged his team to account for the fact that Tottenham Hotspur inverted their wingbacks, something then-Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou rarely did. Postecoglou stuck to his tried-and-true approach despite ditching his attack-minded strategy, the first half becoming a waste because of Amorim’s miscalculation. The Red Devils found a way to improve after the break, but Amorim was slow to make substitutions as his side clawed their way back into the game. His approach lends credence to the idea that he is inflexible, a fascinating contrast to Postecoglou, who faced similar accusations but changed things with a trophy on the line, all while missing several key players through injury.
Signing Amorim’s selection of players could help his case, but truthfully, it rids him of any excuses. The squad may not be perfectly tailored to the manager’s preferences just yet, but the onus is on him to demonstrate improvement from last season, especially so now that Amorim has ample time to implement his vision after the team missed out on European competition. It is actually the perfect opportunity for a fresh start at United, one that should afford patience to everyone entrusted with correcting the team’s course. Amorim may still be at the mercy of bosses who may not have come to that realization yet but the manager has yet to live up to the billing as the game’s most notable rising managerial star. Firing him may not be a guarantee that United will end up on the right track sooner rather than later but if Amorim cannot find a way to counter his critics, the Red Devils will have no sound reason to keep him around, either.