Ruben Amorim is one of the more promising coaches emerging in Europe. He’s young, ambitious, and favours a distinct style of football that stands out from the crowd.
Coaches who have worked with him describe him as a charismatic genius. Players who have worked under him say his approach to the game is an audacious mix of meticulous and audacious.
Amorim makes you better, and then you want to improve beyond that because you believe in Amorim. He’s a former footballer for whom other footballers are willing to run through brick walls. He ended Sporting CP’s 19-year wait for a Portuguese league title in 2021, won another title in 2024, and then masterminded a 4-1 victory over Manchester City in his final Champions League game at the club.
The 39-year-old talks the talk and walks the walk — and had more than one Premier League club interested in him last summer.
When someone with a CV and collection of anecdotes like that takes over at Manchester United, there’s usually a mass outpouring of hype and expectation. One of the biggest, richest and most storied football clubs in the world has hired someone brilliant, talented and ambitious. This is it. Amorim is The One Who Will Fix Things. United are surely on their way “back” with him in charge.
Many supporters recognise he is a talented head coach, but there’s a weariness about the challenges he and the club will face over the coming months. Being hesitant to get excited over Amorim is understandable. Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, every new United manager has been talked up as a potential chosen one, only to struggle to meet expectations.
Erik ten Hag won three Eredivisie titles and two Dutch cups during his time at Ajax and was regarded as one of the Netherlands’ best tactical minds, but struggled to deal with an ever-increasing list of issues at United. His first press conference at Old Trafford saw him wear a tan suit, exchange pleasantries with assembled media and say that he admired the successes of City and Liverpool, but eras come to an end.
It wasn’t to pass, despite the Dutchman winning two trophies in two seasons.
Ten Hag’s departure brought a period of hindsight and reflection; did fans and media get carried away when things were good? Did we spend so long hyping up Ajax making the Champions League semi-final in 2018-19 that we glossed over the fact Ten Hag failed to hold onto a 3-0 aggregate lead against Tottenham Hotspur? Are we so desperate to see a United manager restore them to the Premier League summit that we gloss over any potential weaknesses? Can any manager fix United? Or is this one of football’s impossible jobs?
Five permanent managers have been chewed up and spat out by United in the past decade. As a result, it is understandable that there is a hesitancy in getting too attached to Amorim.
The club has recognised that trepidation and opted for a softer approach to introducing their new head coach to the fanbase. There has been no grand unveiling of Amorim to the assembled media. Instead, his first interview was conducted with club media, and there will be no assembly of senior club executives to discuss his credentials at his press conference on Friday before facing Ipswich Town. So far, the new head coach has not been presented as just that: a new head coach rather than a potential football messiah.
“All the people are hungry for success and this is the place I want to be,” said the 39-year-old to his club’s media channel. “Also, because of that, you can be part of something special, not just one more. And that is something that I really like.”
Amorim has come across as an engaging talker since his arrival in England. He is known for a robust style of football in a 3-4-3 and has gone to record to say that, while he is unlikely to deviate from what has worked for him in the past, it is the “character of the players” that is more important than any system or formation. He wants to galvanise the club and those who support it. He knows the road to success is long and paved with potential pitfalls, but he’ll “try to do everything to put this club in the place that it belongs”.
“It sounds wonderful, but I’ve heard it all before,” objects a hypothetical reader of this piece. “Every manager is sold as the opposite of the last one, but they all end up suffering from the same problems.”
Amorim coming across as an inspiring leader can feel like a response to Ten Hag’s perceived failings, but they must also be taken on their own merit. He is the new United head coach because he has proven brilliant at other clubs and fits into a strategy for the future.
He is aware of the febrile environment he is about to enter, too. The international break has allowed some relief and respite from the struggle that has plagued the team in 2024-25, but the club remain 13th in the Premier League and 15th in the Europa League.
Trust often has to be earned in football, and Amorim will have to work hard to convince a large and fractured fanbase that he is the best head coach to take them forward. His team might bridge the four-point gap to the Champions League places between now and the end of the season. Still, it could take years to see whether he, his team, and the executives can buck the negative trends that affected every post-Ferguson manager.
United fans are desperate for success, but there is a growing sense that things will take time to improve, and no single figure can fix it alone.
“I just don’t want to get my hopes up and get burned again,” says our hypothetical reader again.
It is perfectly valid to wait for a ball to be kicked before allowing yourself to be excited by another new era at United. New doesn’t always mean good, and Amorm has a busy in-tray of things to address before his team resembles the collective unit he built in Portugal.
There is no guarantee that — for all of his talents — he’ll be the one who brings in a new era of sustained success at the club. If you are waiting for United to start winning games consistently before getting carried away, all power to you. But if you are someone who is enjoying your introduction to Amorim, then feel free to have fun. Football can be so preoccupied with itself that you can easily forget this is meant to be fun.
Supported United is supposed to be an entertaining escape from the monotony of day-to-day life, rather than something that adds to it. If Amorim is saying or doing something around United right now that makes you nod your head or crack a brief smile, keep that smile there for a little longer. The serious stuff can come later; it’s OK to get excited about the journey before it starts again.
(Top photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
