The way Liverpool and West Ham went cold on him suggests he did not endear himself in discussions, and there was obviously something about him that put both clubs off.
It also suggests that United haven’t spotted it, or are desperate enough to just ignore it.
Personally I think he is 100% wedded to his 3-4-3 system and Liverpool and West Ham were not prepared to rip up the progress they had made in their football set ups to accommodate this.
United just seem in the wrong place for this appointment. They have a lot of deadwood to shift, and they have very little PSR room to operate (and have just lashed £30m on this change). Is Amorim really the guy you want to front the pain they are about to suffer.
Liverpool - he was simple one of a collection of potential candidates the club short listed and the media focus on him was more due to Sporting’s willingness to talk about the approach than the strength of his candidacy. It is pretty apparent that he was not Hughes’ preferred choice of candidates the club had short listed for him, but that should not be viewed as a negative mark against him. It certainly was not a place of him being in the driver’s seat and fucking it up with some big red flag being identified.
West Ham - he had an expensive release clause
I dont think there is too much more to read into this. It should not be a surprise that Utd pushed through the move they wanted despite it being too rich for other clubs who were also interested.
Let’s face it, this is an interesting appointment. A lot of people on here were going wet of excitement at the idea of this guy taking charge of our team. I never believed that the hype at the time was deserved, and obviously hope that I’ll be proven right over time.
On the other hand, I fully expect them to be reinvigorated by the new-manager energy. Hopefully it will go flat after some time, fingers crossed.
Yeah the INEOS crew are showing that they may even be worse than the last lot. This is a club that’s going nowhere right now, and are at least a decade of very good decisions/luck going their way before they can start competing again. They might have the odd blip where they finish in the top 4 or even make a title push, kinda like us in 2013/14, but ultimately until they sort all of their many issues out, they’re just pissing in the wind.
And about ETH. Even in his run with Ajax , his team’s were dire AF when out of Possession. It’s exactly the same now with United under Ten Hag. The only saving grace for Ajax then was that he had De Jong in midfield.
They never had any director of football before and it showed in their hiring of managers. Just going for the big names (LVG/Mou) or the sentimental hire (Ole) or the flavour of the season(which ETH was with his run with Ajax)
Ashworth is rated highly in the English press. Maybe he’s the one who will get them back to some form.
This hiring seems like it’s done for footballing reasons and not a knee jerk reaction. I don’t know if he’s going to be given the time but he’s a proper manager.
Lets remember, FSG hired Brendan, back tracked on their commitment to put in place a power sharing structure, and somehow oversaw the signings of Balotelli and Benteke.
Sometimes it takes a while for the fruits of a new team behind the scenes to become apparent.
