This is Manchester United

 

This is Manchester United

“All of this has been too familiar in recent years. We’ve been here before. And yet, a new dawn promises fresh hope.”

The revolving door at Old Trafford has opened again and welcomed a new victim into its clutches. Welcome to the shadow realm, Erik Ten Hag. Not only do you join other high-profile managers such as Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, you also join an a-list of star footballers in Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, and Jason Sancho. Ooh look, there’s Angel Di Maria! And so, the cycle starts again. A new man is at the helm. Ruben Amorim. “As that famous sign states; “Welcome to Manchester”. Welcome to the circus that is, Manchester United. Best of luck here.

All of this has been too familiar in recent years. We’ve been here before. And yet, a new dawn promises fresh hope.

Ten Hag’s Troubles

Whilst Manchester United have their own internal problems, which I’ll touch on shortly, it’s fair to say Ten Hag didn’t cover himself in too much glory during his two and-a-bit year stint at Old Trafford. A trophy in each of his two full seasons he’d argue, represents moderate success at this Manchester United. For this, is not the all-conquering Manchester United that we grew up watching. Forgive Gary Neville for his assessment of where United should be at. “This is Manchester United”. No, Gary. This is Manchester United. Battling for top four and a solitary league or FA cup and everyone goes home happy.

However, we expect much more from England’s biggest club. We expect them to be competing for the game’s top honours. United’s hierarchy certainly would have expected that having given Ten Hag a warchest to spend during his reign. An 8^th place finish and an FA-Cup would probably not suffice. A record-breaking poor start, culminating in United sitting in 14^th place in November, would certainly not suffice. The bill for Ten Hag’s messily assembled squad? £615 million. On 21 players. If we go through a handful of them, Casemiro at around an initial £70 million, Rasmus Hojlund at £75 million, Mason Mount for £60 million. Oh, and we’ve not even touched on his old Ajax boys! Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez, Antony, De Ligt and Noussair Mazraouri for a mere £232 million. The more he spent, the longer he was there, the worse it got. 14^th in the Premier League, winless in Europe for a year, the results spoke loud and clear.

The results, sadly, aren’t the half of it. Ten Hag was brought in to implement a style of play having impressed at Ajax with noteworthy performances and recruitment was geared to help Ten Hag at every opportunity to achieve this feat. A holding midfielder? We’ll bring in champions league winner Casemiro. Sure, we’ll give you a ball-playing centre half in Lisandro Martinez. Oh, you can’t do that without a sweeper-keeper? Here’s Andre Onana. Wait, there’s another hole in midfield? Player after player was brought in as a final piece to the Ten Hag puzzle. Sadly, if the pieces do not fit into the puzzle, it’s time to try a different picture. Ten Hag’s shapeless United lacked cohesion, balance and chemistry. No components of the team spoke to one another and Ten Hag’s ghost ship drifted along until it was put out of its misery.

Ineos’ black mark

United has been a club in malaise ever since Sir Alex Ferguson left 10 years ago. It’s well-documented and great mangers and players of our time have come in and had a crack at it, but no one’s succeeded. Gary Neville has previously referred to the club being “broken”. Can a club be “broken”, and if so, can it be fixed?

The man who believed he could fix it was lifelong Manchester United fan, Sir Jim Ratcliffe who with his team at Ineos, took control of the footballing aspect of the club earlier this year. Here, we were told, were the process guys. Trust the process? Nah, we are the process. Efficient, ruthless and process driven, Ineos were hailed as the saviours of Manchester United, here to bring this club kicking and screaming into modern-day football culture. Jason Wilcox, Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrarda came in as expensive backroom hires on the premise they were the football guys off the pitch. Suits, laptops and data, for this is modern football.

And yet, the first big decision they had to make, they botched it. They talk about the “dreaded vote of confidence” in football, the one where your owner publicly confirms their faith in you in when you’re under pressure. This “faith” doesn’t usually last too much longer. Well, how about when your owner actively interviews people to take your job whilst you’re still in charge? What’s that one? After the disappointing 8^th placed finish last season, Ineos actively spoke with managers in the summer before settling on Ten Hag being the best man for the job and offering him a contract extension. However they and Ten Hag both tried to spin it, it wasn’t a vote of confidence, it was quite the opposite. They knew it, he knew it, the players knew it and the fans knew it. What did they expect was going to happen? The writing was on the wall from that moment onwards. Inevitable. So, in the end, why did they stick with him? They spent another £200million on players with Ten Hag clearly having some input on this with former Ajax player De Ligt joining, effectively doubling down on the last two years, to then dismiss him before bonfire night. The dismissal itself was quick and tidy, although it seemingly came 5 months later than originally planned.

Amorim’s Arrival

What now then for the incoming manager? Ruben Amorim arrives fresh-faced and confident of the task at hand. And so, he should. He’s not been at Manchester United long enough yet to have been worn down by it all. Amorim’s stock is at an all-time high. Having been on the shortlist at Liverpool, West Ham and Chelsea in the summer, Amorim stayed at Sporting CP and Sporting have started the season on fire. They’ve won 11 games out of 11 in the Portuguese League, scoring 39 times and have also just beaten Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League. Then again, that’s not that hard these days, and Spurs even kept a clean sheet. Amorim cemented himself as Portugal’s next brightest thing after breaking a 19 year-duck for Sporting CP by winning the Portuguese League title in his first full season. Two years later and he lifted the title again. Almost as importantly is the legacy that Amorim has left behind at Sporting. Playing an attacking and fluid 3-4-3, Amorim’s Sporting CP have been built on cohesion, togetherness and aggression off the ball. Three adjectives you’d not use to describe United in recent years.

Evidently, the worry is, is that there are similarities between Amorim’s arrival at United and Ten Hag’s. Both having won league titles, playing a brand of football and not having gained Premier League experience. I get it. The similarities end there though. Amorim is, by what you hear from people, warm, energetic and treads the line well between confidence and cockiness. There’s a spring in his step. Ten Hag was a little colder. Asking him about his style of play didn’t invite him to open up about it, more so he felt you were questioning him about it. With Amorim, you hear him talk and you believe what he’s saying. Some United fans have even said if you close your eyes and listen, you hear Cristiano Ronaldo speak. A good omen perhaps.

Amorim’s appointment is an exciting one for United. It was only a month ago that ex-Sporting chief executive, Hugo Viana joined Manchester City and Amorim was touted as a possible successor to Guardiola. Here is a manager clearly on the up, having achieved success at the few clubs he has been at, but particularly at Sporting. From being Portugal’s third best club, he’s turned them into the standout club in Portugal. When he’s had players ripped out of the club’s team such as Joao Pahlinha, Nuno Mendes, Pedro Porro and Matheus Nunes, he’s simply brought in replacements and made them better through coaching. He’s taken Viktor Gyokeres from a Championship player to the most feared striker in Europe. Perhaps he can do the same with Rasmus Hojlund? Bruno Fernandes will surely shine again working with his compatriot. Mason Mount may be given a new lease of life. There are young players to work with here. Now he’s at a club where he can keep his shiny toys, what’s to say he can’t do even better? Where gloom lay a few weeks ago, there is now hope.

Being Manchester United manager is the most difficult job in football. It’s a club that looks backwards as much as it looks forwards. Ex-players reminisce about how the culture of the club used to be different, baying the head-coach to tap into that and then simultaneously point to Liverpool and Manchester City as examples of clubs that are “getting it right”. Actually, I think Ineos have got it right off the pitch with their appointments, and finally they have their man in the dug-out. All they have to do now is ignore the outside noise, follow the data and trust the process. Easier said than done.