United move for Amorim but 'brains trust' under scrutiny

Manchester United's co-owner Jim Ratcliffe (4L) talks with David Brailsford (2R) during the English Premier League football match between Aston Villa and Manchester United at Villa Park (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)

ERIK ten Hag, a manager who made an art form out of producing excuses, finally ran out of them when he was dismissed by his Manchester United bosses, who moved quickly to replace him with Ruben Amorim on Monday.

The 39-year-old Portuguese, currently with Sporting Lisbon, was the top name to emerge on United’s wanted list after dispensing with the services of ten Hag.

Winner of all nine league games in Portugal this season and unbeaten, with two wins, in three Champions League games, Amorim refused to rule himself out of contention when quizzed Monday morning.

“I was already expecting this question and obviously I'm not going to talk about the future, because otherwise I'll always have to comment,” he said. “I’m very proud to be Sporting coach, that’s all.” 

Amorim had come under consideration by Liverpool, when they were in the process of replacing Jurgen Klopp, but now appears highly likely to fulfil his wish of managing in the Premier League.

United, who immediately appointed coach and former player Ruud Van Nistelrooy as caretaker in the wake of ten Hag’s sacking, are prepared to pay the €10m compensation clause demanded by the Portuguese league leaders.

Van Nistelrooy was expected to be in charge of United for Wednesday's Carabao Cup tie with Leicester and still looks likely to do so although club officials will hope Amorim will be in situ and an interested observer of that tie. In-form Chelsea visit Old Trafford on Sunday and, if talks proceed well, Amorim could be in place for that fixture.

Amorim will take over a club languishing in 14th place in the Premier League and without a win in Europe for a year - all three Europa League games this season having ended in a draw after United had taken a lead.

Ten Hag was finally put out of his “misery” yesterday morning although, ironically considering his fondness for excuses, he departed with a genuine right to feel aggrieved, a dubious last-minute penalty decision ensuring what would prove to be his last game in charge ended in defeat at West Ham.

But, having finally put the dead manager walking out of his misery in a brief but polite dismissal, it is the self-styled football “brains trust” under new minority owner Jim Ratcliffe who will now come under closest scrutiny.

At least their swift move for Amorim finally speaks of competence and a definite and coherent succession plan.

It also removed the danger of Van Nistelrooy repeating the ill-fated Ole Gunnar Solskjaer experiment. The prospect of a club legend being handed a run of games as interim, then picking up enough positive results that management have no choice but to appoint him on a permanent basis, did not bear thinking about.

But United supporters could justifiably ask why ten Hag was allowed to continue into the current campaign when it was one of football’s worst-kept secrets that Ratcliffe and his Ineos “brains trust” wanted to sack him in the summer.

Brentford’s Thomas Frank was among those informally sounded out in the summer when the club tried, but failed, to replace ten Hag.

Thomas Tuchel, also, spoke with United before ending talks, presumably because he knew he was in line to succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager.

In the weeks since, former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez, Edin Terzic, ex of Borussia Dortmund and Southgate were reportedly sounded out, although Southgate recently ruled himself out of a club job until next summer.

Graham Potter and former Juventus manager Max Allegri were two more “names” linked with the post. In that sort of field, Amorim probably looks the pick although, even if they should land him, he remains unproven outside Portugal and, as they sift through the pieces of this latest wreckage, it is the United hierarchy who know they are under the most glaring spotlight.

The first mistake made by Ratcliffe’s leadership group was, first, in not convincing Tuchel to join their “project” in the summer, or at least pressing home their interest in Frank.

Mauricio Pochettino, also, was one of a number of other “big-name” managers available in the summer and, in any case, it would have proved far easier - and cheaper - to remove a manager from a club in the summer than mid-season, had United decided to go down that route.

And the second error in a succession plan that was overseen by former cycling guru Dave Brailsford, but also featured sporting director Dan Ashworth, technical director Jason Wilcox and chief exec Omar Berrada, was not making a move to dismiss ten Hag in the October international break.

Such was the level of dysfunction, and mediocre performances, in and around United from the kick-off this season that yesterday’s events have long since felt inevitable.

Ineos were panicked into activating a year’s contract extension for ten Hag after his FA Cup Final win in the summer, then dithered for 116 days before finally making the change just as their club face four home games before the next international break.

Those all look easily winnable, with the possible exception of Sunday’s visit of Chelsea, with Leicester, in cup and league, and PAOK Salonika making up the pre-break schedule. After it, clashes with Ipswich, Bodo Glimt and Everton are hardly terrifying, especially as only the first of those games is away from Old Trafford. Ten Hag’s successor will have the perfect platform to salvage a season which, already, appears to have been given up on by the club hierarchy.

The cynic might also claim it made sense to exit ten Hag before that sequence gave him the chance to bring about minor improvements in results which might have made sacking him all the more difficult in PR terms.

United, privately, claim they were keen for ten Hag to succeed after winning last season’s FA Cup. But after seeing United win just four of their 14 fixtures this season, losing four league games in the process, Ratcliffe and co. felt they had no further choice.

All that delay has done, of course, is fill the United dressing room with yet more questionable new signings. The lack of identity or obvious playing style employed by ten Hag, who arrived at Old Trafford with a reputation as one of Europe’s finest tacticians in his time with Ajax, has been baffling.

Ultimately, however, it may be that like David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and, even Solskjaer, before him, ten Hag ultimately paid the price for under-achieving players - many of them, of course, bought directly with his approval.

Ten Hag was generally applauded for his stance in ushering Cristiano Ronaldo and his king-sized ego out of United just months into the job, but his handling of Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Raphael Varane and others since has been far less well received.

Van Nistelrooy is assured a warm reception on Wednesday by supporters who were chanting his name loudly at West Ham on Saturday. Amorim, too, will have their fierce backing, although it will take far more than goodwill if he is to finally succeed in delivering United consistent success for the first time since Ferguson’s departure 11 years ago.