Ruben Amorim has three weeks, not three years, to prove himself to Ratcliffe
If Ruben Amorim was expecting to hear from Sir Jim Ratcliffe during the current international break, he would have feared something rather bleaker than this…
“Ruben is a good guy.” the United part-owner told The Business podcast. “He has not had the best of seasons. But he needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years.”
Compared to what Amorim might have expected post-Brentford, that’s a hug and squeeze. But the United boss will recognise lip-service by now. Three weeks, not three years, is the worry that will deprive him of yet more sleep while many of his players are doing their national service.
Amorim is living international break to international break right now. He spared himself prior to the last one with a 97th-minute home win over Burnley in the wake of Grimsby-gate. In this latest three-week audition for his own job, Amorim won two, lost two, the odd signs of encouragement mixed with some familiar failings.
United disproved little of what we already know of them, swaying no-one from the firmly entrenched positions they already held, leaving Amorim and Ratcliffe to kick the can down Sir Matt Busby Way a little longer until the one-year anniversary of his appointment draws nearer.
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That milestone is more of worry for Amorim than a cause for celebration. Reports suggest United will be liable for a much smaller pay-off if they wait 12 months before sacking another manager. Amid Ratcliffe’s quest to make United the most profitable circus football club in the world, every million quid counts.
For Amorim, there is little respite to be found in the fixture list. Like the last four-game block, United will face two of the big six, Liverpool and Tottenham away, with Brighton at Old Trafford and a possible El Sackico at Forest in between. Three away trips is hardly ideal when United’s form on the road is so poor.
Where is the bar for Amorim? Will six points keep him in a job again?
Liverpool have been poor – are they the crisis club? – but surely not so sloppy as to let United win at Anfield for the first time in almost a decade. As Paul Scholes said, a point would be very nice, ta.
Brighton at home. Sheesh. The Seagulls have had United on strings in recent seasons. The Red Devils might have won their last three at Old Trafford but so have Brighton. United have lost seven of the last eight meetings. Three points will be the expectation of Amorim at the Amex North, but none of us could be surprised if United are left looking to make up points elsewhere.
Maybe at Forest? A year to the day since he was appointed, Amorim will go to the City Ground to face a manager for whom beating United in a European final was not enough to keep his job at Tottenham. Forest, perhaps breezier for also sacking Ange Postecoglou by then, could inflict a third defeat on Amorim on the very day it becomes cheaper to sack him.
Should Amorim reach Tottenham before the next international break, there Ratcliffe could see for himself the positive impact of replacing a dogmatic manager with a pragmatist.
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If there is a dour tinge to the context above, that’s because pessimism prevails at Old Trafford these days. That six points might be seen as a creditable haul when This Is Manchester United Football Club We Are Talking About tells its own story. Whether half the available points will be enough to save him once more, only Ratcliffe and his cronies can decide.
Whatever verdict they reach, it ought to be with a view beyond the next convenient sacking window. There are many reasons why the mess United find themselves in is not Amorim’s fault, just as there are plenty that make it true that, so far, he has not done enough to turn the Reds around. Ratcliffe, Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada; if they see a clearer picture than the “knee jerk reactions of journalists who go off on one every week”, then enlighten us and be decisive.
Sack Amorim, or back him more decisively than telling the world he’s a nice bloke.
