The King Is Dead, Long Live The King (?)

Will Ruben Amorim finally be the man to restore Manchester United to their past glories?

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King(?)

Sir Alex Ferguson is an absolute giant of the game and still casts an enormous shadow over Old Trafford. The man from Glasgow who had built his managerial skills with St Mirren, Aberdeen and Scotland before moving down South in 1986 was ridiculously successful, despite a slow start which almost saw him sacked, and was always going to be a hard act to follow. During his tenure, United won 38 trophies, including an unprecedented 13 Premier League titles.

However, I’m not sure anyone would have imagined that now, 11 years after Fergie’s departure, United would be in the state that they are in. I seem to remember Gary Neville (apologies if I am wrong as I couldn’t find the exact quote) saying something along the lines that United would never dip as far as Liverpool did after Dalglish left when the glory days, for the most part, ended for a significant time period. I would suggest that they have dropped as far, and have in fact gone even further.

In that 11 years, United have had 9 managers (not including new manager Ruben Amorim who we will come onto shortly) and the highest win percentage that anyone has achieved is Jose Mourinho with 53.8%. This is not good enough for a manager of a club that size anyway but when you consider that within the same time period Pep Guardiola has had a ridiculous 72% win percentage at Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp had around a 61% win percentage at Liverpool, and both had/have had tenures far longer than any single United manager, then you will see the gap that has been created, and that goes without even mentioning stand-alone great seasons from teams like Leicester too.

Aligned with this is the amount of money that United have spent as a club on players to try and turn things around that really haven’t worked out, or in reality have been abject failures. In fact, in the last ten years, United have actually accumulated the biggest deficit of any Premier League club to the tune of -€1.316.52 billion. This includes spending around £80 million on Antony, £76.5 million on Jadon Sancho and £67.5 million on Angel Di Maria, all arguably good players but who just haven’t performed or fit in at the club.

Part of the problem surrounding this is that the club itself also seems to be struggling to find any sort of consistent identity. There has been no real evidence of togetherness on the pitch, no connection with each other in times of need, and certainly a lack of passion in terms of ‘playing for the badge’. A succession of manager changes will do nothing to aid this process but just throwing money at a sinking ship won’t solve it either. Winning cultures need to be built from the ground up.

There has of course also been the whole side pantomime over the ownership of the club alongside the issues on the pitch which will not have helped matters either. Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally taking over was seen as a chance to begin to turn things around although it was perhaps surprising that Erik Ten Hag was kept on into this season despite beating neighbours City in the FA Cup Final. Perhaps it was that the right man just wasn’t available at the time.

Following a disastrous, by United’s standards, start to the season though, the hands of those in charge have essentially been forced into finally taking action, and Ten Hag’s nine lives were up. Finally it was time for change.

The aforementioned Amorim has been chosen as the one to lead the club into a better future but he will have a job on his hands to garner immediate success. However, this will not be a challenge that is completely alien to the Portuguese as he took over at his previous club Sporting CP when they were in a similar position in terms of lacking identity.

Rather than being another in the long line of Pep Guardiola disciples, including Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca, that are filling up roles in the Premier League, Amorim has been more likened to his countryman Jose Mourinho. The two actually did some work together very briefly when Amorim was doing training to become a coach, when Mourinho was at United himself. 

He has proven to be one of the new style of coaches who uses modern techniques in training and has the good grasp on the tactical elements of the game that is almost a prerequisite for top managers these days. He certainly managed to turn Sporting around in double quick time, guiding the club to the league title for the first time in 19 years in his first full season. United fans will be hoping that things move just as quickly this time.

It is also important to say that during his tenure at Sporting, Amorim had a win percentage of 77%. This is incredibly encouraging when compared to those of his predecessors at United. There is however argument to say that he is entering a far more competitive environment than that which exists in Liga Portugal.

One of the key components to Amorim’s Sporting team was the ability of the midfield to break up play and hold firm while wing backs went forward in attack. A key component to this, for a while at least, was Manuel Ugarte (although he was signed the season after the first title) and it is interesting that he is now one of the players that the new coach will inherit from Erik Ten Hag.  You feel that Ugarte will be a vital part of the new United which will surely transition to Amorim’s preferred style of playing 3 at the back with a heavy press and short, direct passing.

Whether he gets money to spend in January or whether he will need to make do with what he has initially will only become known over time. Many United fans will be desperate for him to quickly raid his former club for star striker Viktor Gyokeres who has already scored 23 goals in 18 matches for his club this season, as well as being the top scorer overall in the UEFA Nations League for his native Sweden with 9. It is unclear whether this will happen though as Gyokeres may be keen to see out the season where he is and then take his pick of suitors in the summer.

What will be very interesting to see is how the new boss makes use of those who have already been part of the United set up, many of whom have greatly underperformed for long periods of time. Will Marcus Rashford be able to rekindle his attacking spark coming slightly in from the left as an attacker? Will having wingbacks, whoever they turn out to be, mean that Rasmus Hojlund will get better service and therefore become more of a consistent threat? Will Kobbie Mainoo be the man to join Ugarte in the central holding position or could there be a rebirth for Eriksen, Mount or Casemiro? Could Alejandro Garnacho be repositioned as a winger come wingback as some, including Jamie Carragher, have suggested? Will Antony even make the squad?

All of this and we haven’t even mentioned if other club stalwarts such as Harry Maguire will fit into Amorim’s long term planning. 

There is certainly a lot to work out but we should start to get a glimpse of this in Saturday’s match away to Ipswich Town, who will themselves be flying high after beating Spurs last time out. Following this weekend, United only have Everton to play in the league before an incredibly tricky three match spell with away fixtures at Arsenal and City sandwiching a home tie with in-form Nottingham Forest. Amorim will certainly hope his new charges pick up their roles swiftly.

The eyes of the world will be watching to see if United have finally got it right this time with Amorim being the new ‘King’ that they have been waiting for. Many will hope not, but fans of United will be praying desperately that the answer to this is yes.