Man U managerial merry-go-round keeps on moving

Manchester United have been part of the English discourse in recent weeks. When are they not, you may ask, let them be winning, losing, or having chats with managers, current, departing or about to acquaint with Old Trafford. If they haven’t been losing many matches of late, it’s because they were eking out draws.

As this piece makes its way onto the screen, United are lying in the bottom half of the table, 11 points from nine games. Arch rivals, Liverpool, are 14 points further up in the top spot, and Wolves are the whippers-in.

Rúbin Amorim, whose departure didn’t please his former club, Sporting Lisbon, even though the Portuguese outfit trousered £10 million in compensation, is about to take up the reins at Old Trafford.

When he does, he’ll become the sixth to hold the most pressurised post in English soccer since Alex Ferguson quit 11 years ago. David Moyes was the Scot’s successor, but after a trophyless single season, this other Jock was on his way out.

The first foreigner – there are people in England who say a Scot is a foreigner – to fill the hot seat was Louis van Gaal; but despite winning the FA Cup, the Dutchman was gone a couple of seasons later.

It can only get better the Stretford End denizens – not to mention the boardroom blazers, among them the Glazers – thought with the appointment of José Mourinho, in 2016.

The “Special One”, or whatever it was he calls himself, was a successful one, but only up to a point. A League Cup and a Europa Cup were no substitute for the real thing, the Premier League. If he wanted to stay on after two-and-a-half seasons, Mourinho was told, ”No way, Jose”.

You could bet on Ole Gunnar Solskjaar not cutting the mustard. The Norwegian had little going for him as a manager. His main qualities were as a player in the famous red jersey and a place at the top of the popularity table.

Of the five managers who’ve come and gone since Ferguson, Solskjaar lasted the longest, this despite doing nothing to embellish the trophy cabinet. He was there from 2018 to 2021, and was replaced by Erik ten Hag.

The further United went without winning one of the biggies, the more pressure the manager would come under. Erik now knows that more than any of the others. His team won the League Cup and the FA Cup, but what about the big one, Jim Ratcliffe and the others asked. And our recent form?

Alex Ferguson is a legend. Everything England and Europe had to offer came his way in his 27 years as manager. And he’d been a winner before that, guiding Aberdeen to three Scottish titles, four Cups, a League Cup, and a European Cup-Winners Cup.

United were not taking a big chance in naming Ferguson as Ron Atkinson’s successor. And it would seem the Old Trafford board had him lined up even before Atkinson was let go. The bejewelled Ron got his papers in the morning, and Ferguson was in place that evening. It all happened 38 years ago this week.

Fergie, however, wasn’t an instant success. Indeed, three years after his appointment United were two points off the relegation zone, and weren’t fancied to win their FA Cup third-round tie with Nottingham Forest. But they got the result, Mark Robbins claiming the winner. The boss had breathing space, and he used it well.

United advanced to win the Cup, and after that, prize after prize. Would it have been different had Robbins hit the post instead of the back of the net, or shot wide, that day against Forest?

Amorin’s name is going to appear in the headlines more often than any of his players between now and the end of the season, and it won’t matter if his team is winning, losing or grabbing more draws.