Ruben Amorim took the rap but bumbling Man Utd brain trust now have nowhere to hide

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On October 6, 2024, a photograph of six men outside a Villa Park executive box was taken. Not one of them could raise a smile.

Five of them were supposed to form the cartel of business and sporting brains that would re-energise Manchester United, they were supposed to form a unit of money and intellect that would restore the great institution’s footballing formidability.

Three weeks later, they sacked Erik ten Hag. Fifteen months later, they sacked his much-vaunted successor. Remember the five - on Sir Alex Ferguson's right - from that day at Villa Park?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The INEOS owner who is probably too busy fighting serious battles away from the football field - his petrochemical company currently has debts of £18BILLION - to remember that he said Ruben Amorim was ‘an excellent manager’ who should be judged over the full length of his three-year contract.

Sir Dave Brailsford. The INEOS director of sport who stepped away from day-to-day involvement at Old Trafford to concentrate on other departments, perhaps overseeing the company’s big sponsorship cutbacks.

Omar Berrada. The chief executive who has overseen a long, savage period of redundancies and cutbacks in the office environment to try and spruce up the accounts (accounts that still showed a debt close to £1billion).

Dan Ashworth. The sporting director who took an age to get out of Newcastle and who lasted five months and cost over £4million in pay-off settlement.

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Jason Wilcox. The former coach of Manchester City under-18s who moved to Southampton’s executive set-up before joining United and having various titles, the latest being Director of Football, a position that appears to have seen him pull some sort of rank over Amorim.

Hardly a famous five. As likeable a character he is - and it would be nice to see him get another crack in the Premier League - to sack Amorim at this stage is hardly outlandish.

Never mind the post-Leeds comments that did for him in the end, a record of 15 wins in 49 Premier League games is pretty grim. In the Premier League, along with the worst win ratio of any Manchester United manager (31%), he had the worst goals conceded per game ratio (1.53%) and the lowest clean sheet ratio (15%).

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There were signs of improvement - one defeat in the last eight games and sixth in the table - but United were hardly becoming a compelling watch. Managers have been sacked by elite clubs after having a more productive time than Amorim did over 14 months in charge.

But the fact is he took over a dysfunctional powerhouse that was supposed to have its major issues smoothed out by Ratcliffe and the highly-paid brains trust that looked on at Villa Park that day. Instead, the issues remain as thorny as ever, the under-achievement remains stark, the class continues to drain away.

And who takes the rap? The man who was responsible for first team results, obviously. But that is also the man who fronted up every day, who represented the club well, who talked to the fans, who spoke passionately, win, lose or draw.

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During United’s struggles, no-one has heard much from Wilcox or Berrada, let’s put it that way. But they hold the power.

It was, indeed, Ratcliffe’s aim to assemble an executive team that had the finest business and sporting brains. As Sir Jim signs another pay-off cheque, it seems he failed.

And on the end of that photograph from Villa Park was a real titan of Manchester United. THE TITAN. Manager, coach, main man, boss. What Sir Alex makes of it all is anyone's guess.

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