The 40-year-old Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim has only been in charge for a few months, but he has already joked that he is 10 years older. According to The Telegraph, the former Portuguese sporting boss had hoped to take over the club again this summer, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe pressed him to take over immediately. "Now or never!" Rajue told Amorim through his cronies.
In November last year, United decided to sack Ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy became interim manager. Amorim was quickly named the first choice for the new manager, however, the Portuguese was well aware of the difficulties of taking over the team midway through the season, not least his insistence on a 343 style of play, which was a significant difference from the 4231 formation that the Red Devils had played for several years.
Not only that, but with Larvae giving Ten Hag £200 million to buy after he re-signed him, United did not have much money to bring in the January winter transfer window, and the club ended up signing only left-back Patrick Dolgu and centre-back Eden Haven. Amorim still doesn't have the right players to enforce his style of play, he refuses to compromise and the players can't adapt, so the results are very poor, especially in the Premier League.
Manchester United are currently in a miserable period, dropping to 15th place with 29 points after 25 league games and losing four of their last five Premier League games, and Amorim's tactics have been questioned in a way that could affect future developments.
Amorim is said to be sympathetic to the coaches and staff who are still at United, who know the job of the new boss is daunting. Moreover, Amorim himself is well aware that the timing of his tenure is not ideal, he is not a manager like Carlo Ancelotti who can adjust his management style and style of play according to the actual situation, he only has his own philosophy. As a result, it is risky to take over a team that doesn't fit the 343 style of play mid-season.
However, United told him he had to come now. Despite Amorim's determination to face it bravely, the situation was not as good as it could have been. In Sunday's defeat to Tottenham, Amorim was flanked by eight young players under the age of 20 who had never played for the first team. The United boss also admitted before the game that it was the club's rank-and-file staff who paid the greater price for the defeat of the first team, with three or four hundred people already being laid off by Rajue.
The British media criticized Rajue for making many ridiculous decisions in the year he took over Manchester United, renewing Ten Hag's contract and burning money to buy people, and then letting him go to school, forcing Amorim to coach midway through the season is just one of them. The 72-year-old former richest man in England also spent £3 million to poach sporting director Dan Ashworth from Newcastle United, and after waiting for the other party to end his "gardening leave", he was sacked for £4.1 million a few months later.
The Telegraph also reported another embarrassing incident. He met Manchester United women's captain Katie Zelem during a visit to Carrington, but did not know him. Zelem is a fellow countryman and joined Manchester United at the age of eight, but he didn't know her and asked, "What are you doing here?" Perhaps feeling that Rajue does not attach importance to Manchester United's women's football team, Zelem chose to leave the club last summer and joined the City of Angels in Los Angeles, USA.
United have also done more unkind behaviour. The club's veteran front desk lady, Keith Phipps, who died last December at the age of 85, has worked for the club for more than 50 years, through the era of Sir Matt Busby and Ferguill. Started as an operator, Phipps went on to take a number of matchday roles at the Old Trafford stadium office before making the popular decision to move her to Carrington Training Base in 2000.
However, just two working days after Phipps' passing, the club called his relatives and only asked what was going on with his season ticket! United later insisted it was a misunderstanding and had no intention of taking back the old lady's season ticket.