Key Highlights
- “Don't waste the season,” he said. Those words could have been aimed at the directors’ box given that, if United’s campaign ends in failure on all fronts, much of the blame will rest the hierarchy who first appointed Ruben Amorim, then stuck with him last summer.
- Or, Amorim’s admirers – a band who may not have fully scrutinised his time at Old Trafford – may insist, not retaining him at least until June.
- Certainly, the feeling is that he was sacked without any kind of succession planning.
- The powerbrokers who had a manager who won just 31 per cent of his Premier League matches somehow did not seemed to have considered the question of who came next, beyond a crowd favourite who could be a caretaker. Darren Fletcher warned Manchester United against throwing their season away, again (Manchester United via Getty Imag)As United weigh up the merits of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick, two of their three managers in the torrid 2021-22 season, there is a case for saying it could be a fourth wasted season in five.
- Perhaps 2023-24 does not count, as United won the FA Cup – it is thought Fletcher merits much of the credit for that, for persuading Erik ten Hag to jettison more reckless tactics for a pragmatic masterclass in the final – but it was otherwise wretched.
