MANCHESTER, England (AP) — A new era begins at Manchester United as Ruben Amorim becomes the latest coach to take on the challenge of reviving the storied English club.
After more than a decade of on-field decline the 20-time English champion has turned to a 39-year-old Portuguese who has delivered trophies and a thrilling style of soccer to Sporting Lisbon, but takes over a club that has made a habit of wrecking even the biggest reputations.
High-caliber managers have come and gone, more than $1 billion has been spent on player signings, yet United just can't seem to get it right.
“If anybody knew the answer (for that), we wouldn’t have had the last 10, 11 years,” Andy George, a 40-year-old United fan from Worcestershire, told The Associated Press. “I always back the manager ... but it needs to work now.”
George said he had been a supporter for 30 years and traveled around 100 miles (160 kilometers) for last week's 2-0 win against PAOK in the Europa League.
Proven winner
Amorim — a former Portugal international — was Lisbon coach from 2020 and ended its 19-year wait for the Portuguese title in 2021. He won it again in 2024 and his achievements led to links with jobs at Liverpool, Manchester City and Barcelona before he was hired to replace Erik ten Hag at the start of the month.
“I’m not naive, I know that it’s going to be very different, very tough," Amorim said Sunday after his final game with Sporting. "But I feel that I’m ready. I’m at peace now, I can focus on my new job.”
He is United's sixth permanent coach since club great Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 after winning his 13th Premier League title. Ferguson won 28 major trophies, including two Champions Leagues, and his record has cast a shadow over all of his successors.
David Moyes was the first to try to step into his shoes, lasted eight months and began what has been a cycle of hiring, firing and reboots in an attempt to return the club to its past glories.
Since then United has gone through Champions League winners (Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho), an iconic former player (Ole Gunnar Solskjaer) and one of Europe’s emerging coaching talents (Ten Hag), but has not been able to stop City from dominating English soccer, while Liverpool, Chelsea and even Leicester have lifted the title in that time.
High expectations
United hopes Amorim will be the man to finally break the cycle.
“We cannot ignore how he has changed Sporting,” United midfielder Casemiro said Sunday. “We know that Sporting won many titles, changed the club with titles, with trophies. He has already proved that he is a coach that has won a lot.”
Amorim made a spectacular statement even before officially taking up his new role when, while serving out his notice at Lisbon, his team routed City 4-1 in the Champions League last week.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ I lost my mind,” said Joshua Hanley, a United fan from Kansas City who had flown to England to watch the PAOK game. “We were changing airplanes and I’m sitting there kind of watching the score on my phone.
“It was a fantastic start.”
Amorim joked that he would be considered the new Ferguson if he beat City.
Hanley's expectations are more modest to begin with.
“If we can make top six, it would be a fantastic end of the season,” he said, adding that he wants Amorim to “make football exciting again”.
New structure
Amorim is the first head coach hired since British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe became a minority owner of United in February, assumed control of soccer operations and installed a new leadership team as part of his overhaul.
Chief exectuive Omar Berrada was lured from City and sporting director Dan Ashworth came from Newcastle. Dave Brailsford, who helped Britain become a global force in cycling, is a director on United's soccer board.
While Ten Hag was given a contract extension following an end of season review in the summer, he was appointed under a former regime. United's woeful start to the campaign — losing four of its opening nine league games — ultimately cost him.
Amorim has the benefit of being chosen by United's new hierarchy and the final piece of leadership team assembled by Ratcliffe, which should afford him time implement his plans.
Ambition
Not that he is likely to get a free pass this season. The timing of the decision to fire Ten Hag could be considered instructive in terms of United's ambition.
There have only been 11 rounds of the league campaign and Amorim takes over a team that, although 13th in the standings, is only four points off third place. It also remains in three cup competitions.
Champions League qualification remains very much in play and after United spent around $230 million on transfers in the offseason, Amorim will be expected to quickly deliver winning soccer to a club that has been playing catchup for too long.
In the long term, the challenge is to return United to the summit of English and European soccer — a task that has proved beyond any of his last five predecessors.
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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
James Robson, The Associated Press
