“They can appoint many managers as they want but no progress will be made until that is changed- Ex-Manchester United’s coach Erik ten Hag names only ONE changed needed at Manchester United before the club could succeed
Ruben Amorim hasn’t had the best of times on the pitch since arriving at Manchester United but the support for him off it has bene unwavering.
Man Utd fans are completely aware of the long-term project at hand and the need to break the cycle of sacking a manager and starting again is not lost on them.
The ability of Ruben Amorim to explain every decision eloquently has helped, an area where Erik ten Hag was found severely wanting.
Even still, Rio Ferdinand has expressed disbelief over one decision by the Man Utd manager he was allowed to make at Old Trafford.
Rio Ferdinand on Ruben Amorim’s contentious Man Utd call
Even before Amorim had officially begun at the club, there were only two major questions that dominated the agenda.
The first was whether he would stick with the three-at-the-back system that brought him so much success in his managerial career.
Fair to say, that has been answered loud and clear after three months but the second question was answered less than three days into his tenure.
That question was what he would do with Ruud van Nistelrooy, the then-interim manager. Amorim preferred to wipe the slate clean and move forward with his own setup, something that Ferdinand finds unbelievable.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand said that keeping Van Nistelrooy at the club should have been marked as a “non-negotiable” by Ineos for Amorim.
He said: “At Man Utd, Ruud [Van Nistelrooy] is a different animal. There’s a different respect. He resonates at Man Utd. I look at that and I’m like, ‘How has my man been allowed to leave?’. In some capacity, there was surely something there.
“Amorim has his decisions and I respect that but sometimes as a club, you gotta be strong and say that’s a non-negotiable that’s sitting right there and it’s him [Van Nistelrooy].
The circus and scrutiny are already intense enough at Man Utd that Amorim didn’t need the spectre of a club legend sitting in his backroom team.
The narrative of “Should Van Nistelrooy take over?” would have already started running rampant at United had he stayed, providing players a comfortable option to throw their weight behind.
As it stands, the whole club is wedded to Amorim’s ideas and this short-term pain for potentially long-term gain is what the club has needed for a long time.
Going back to the past is not the answer anymore.
