Manchester United is not a quick fix. Those who made the wrong decisions behind the scenes must be held accountable. But I haven’t heard anything from them
There’s a reason why Ruben Amorim packed his bags and walked out of Manchester United’s training ground with a smile on his face.
he lost his job. But the Portuguese had also lost the enormous weight that hung on his shoulders. The burden that comes with managing a team that belongs to one of the most dysfunctional football clubs on the planet.
The cruel fact is that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS have only grown stronger since they bought their shares in the club almost two years ago. Managers like Amorim lose their jobs when things don’t go well. That’s the way the football world works.
On the other hand, those in positions of power and influence are allowed to fail themselves, yet remain untouched. So let’s turn to Omar Berrada (Chief Executive Officer) and Jason Wilcox (Director of Football).
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In the past 18 months, these twin brilliance have seen Erik ten Hag spend £300m on a new contract only to be sacked a few months later. The Ratcliffe government hired Dan Ashworth as sporting director and fired him after just six months because his advice was not well-received.
Amorim was appointed after Ratcliffe’s attempts to sign Thomas Tuchel failed. A manager who favored a 3-4-3 system but was not given the talent to make it work. Therefore, he was fired after 14 months. And don’t let United supporters get on board with the powers that be signing the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte and Benjamin Sesco.
The amount of money United have wasted on compensation and the number of incompetent players is astonishing. Things are even more painful to swallow considering it happened at a time when Ratcliffe decided to lay off hundreds of employees to cut costs.
And where did all this leave what was supposed to be “the biggest club in the world”? Old Trafford’s kingmakers and silent assassins stand to see either Ole Gunnar Solskjær or Michael Carrick beg to take charge on a custodian basis.
Solskjær had the chance to manage United, but it wasn’t enough. Carrick replaced Solskjaer as caretaker manager for three games when the Norwegian was sacked in November 2021, but was unable to complete his stint as Championship side Middlesbrough’s manager.
You really couldn’t make it up. It is beyond puzzling why people like Wilcox and Berrada are allowed to make such critical decisions without any explanation or recourse given.
Please make no mistake. Amorim was not sacked because of results such as the loss to Grimsby Town or the failures to beat Wolves and West Ham. He was fired because he refused to be a puppet to Wilcox, Berrada, and Ratcliffe. That’s why he lashed out at them all at Elland Road.
And unless it makes people understand that the manager is not the problem for United, the club will never have a chance of regaining the success it believes it has.
