Ruben Amorim ‘sack plan’ unwittingly revealed six weeks ago

We wonder if The Athletic’s Manchester United man realised that he was revealing their Ruben Amorim ‘sack plan’ in early April?

I am what I Amorim
Sunday brought a rat-tat-tat of narratives with the Nottingham Forest owner having a dicky-fit on the pitch, the Liverpool fans booing Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ruben Amorim making it clear that he blames himself for this rotten Manchester United side and might eventually walk if he cannot solve the endemic problems at the club.

The latter story is particularly compelling because it is very rare that a Premier League manager says – and we quote: “It’s not the players’ fault. It’s my fault; I’m responsible.”

And that was consistently his stance, telling the written press: “I don’t want to talk about players. I’m talking about myself and the culture in the club and the culture in the team.

“I have that feeling, we need to change that and we need to be really strong in the summer and to be brave because we will not have a next season like this.

“If we start like this, or if the feeling is still here, we should give the space to different persons.”

Amorim was at great pains to repeat that the buck stopped with him; he is somehow only able to motivate his players for one competition and that’s on him.

But where’s the fun in that?

The Daily Mirror back page has him ‘ripping into’ Manchester United, while the Daily Star have Amorim ‘tearing into his Manchester United flops’.

He literally said “it’s not the players’ fault”, fellas.

The Star laughably claim this was ‘a threat to walk’ from Amorim, with ‘Buck up or I’ll quit’ as the headline. Manchester United must be absolutely shaking that an utterly failing manager is ‘threatening to walk’. Better ‘buck up’, lads.

But what is always, always better than a manager threatening to quit? A delicious, juicy sacking, of course.

‘Man Utd ‘have sack plan’ as Ruben Amorim accepts his fate after West Ham defeat’

That’s the Express, quoting absolutely nobody there. Mediawatch remembers when all this was trees and quote marks denoted quotes.

Now, the Express can claim that Man Utd ‘have sack plan’ because – and this really is tremendous – The Athletic‘s Laurie Whitwell was asked in a Q and A in early April whether Amorim would come under pressure next season and he wrote:

‘As he repeated again post Forest, he will not get time if results continue as they are. United cannot be 13th again next season. Clearly the board, Ratcliffe, Brailsford, Berrada, want him to work as otherwise in would look very bad on them’

And that is the ‘sack plan’ touted fully six weeks later. Are you not ashamed?

Over at the Mirror, they are claiming to be in the know about this sacking business…

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stance on sacking Ruben Amorim after brutal Man Utd admission

Is his stance that sacking Amorim would be mental, by any chance? Or have they just rolled out Ratcliffe’s quotes from March about Amorim doing a good job? Oh yes indeed. Once a ‘stance’ his taken, that ‘stance’ shall never change. Unless, of course, a journalist unwittingly reveals a ‘sack plan’.

The Daily Carragher
Two of MailOnline‘s top four football stories on Monday morning were prompted by Jamie Carragher quotes. Who knew the man was so damned fascinating?

Jamie Carragher infuriates Arsenal fans with major claim about Declan Rice – as pundit fires warning about ‘next 12 months’

Arsenal fans are always ‘infuriated’. They live to be ‘infuriated’. It’s not news by any stretch of any imagination beyond this particular MailOnline trainee.

So let’s look at that ‘major claim’ in detail. Carragher was asked if Declan Rice would be considering his future at Arsenal and he said:

“I don’t think right now. I think for other players maybe in the team who have been there a little bit longer.

“In terms of Declan, I think he’s been Arsenal’s best player this season. I’m not saying he’d give it another 12 months, but I think those doubts maybe kick in in another 12 months.

“It might be different for somebody like a [William] Saliba, who has been there a little bit longer and is desperate to get his hands on some silverware.

“I don’t think there will be any thoughts like that right now, I think they all feel they’re really close. They are very close, but we all know as players the final step is the biggest one.”

Genuinely…spot the ‘major claim’. Some Arsenal fans might be ‘outraged’ but some Arsenal fans live to be ‘outraged’. How the actual Christ is this the biggest story in football?

Further down the page, ‘Jamie Carragher disagrees with supercomputer’s top five prediction as he tips shock outcome in race for Champions League’.

The man is so contentious that he is arguing with actual supercomputers now. Or rather he is disagreeing with Opta’s prediction that Chelsea would finish in the top five.

Never mind that the prediction was made before Chelsea lost to Newcastle and Carragher was reacting after that game; he has ‘disagreed’ with an algorithm and ‘outraged’ Arsenal’s lunatic fringe all on one day. The big daftie.