What's it like to support a Ruben Amorim team?

But, setting tactics aside for a moment, what is it actually like to support a team that is managed by the 39-year-old?

 

As we await Ruben's first United match – a week on Sunday, away to Ipswich Town – that's the unanswered question for Reds everywhere.

 

Fans of Sporting Club de Portugal, the Lisbon club that Amorim restored and re-energised between 2020 and his final match in charge on Sunday, are the best candidates for that particular task. Enter Ivo Costa – a Sporting diehard we last spoke to four years ago, little over a month before Amorim was appointed manager of his club.

 

The topic of conversation back then was United's recent acquisition of future club captain Bruno Fernandes, a player Ivo confidently predicted would take Old Trafford by storm.

 

How he was right about that. But what about Amorim? Can he succeed in dragging United back towards the top of the Premier League and into the prestigious Champions League?

"I think he's very, very good," says Costa, simply. "I think you guys are going to love it and I think he’s going to be successful at Man United."

 

Okay, that's an excellent start. But let's dig into the hows and the whys. It's widely acknowledged that managing United, and trying to live up to the standards set by Sir Alex Ferguson, is one of the most challenging jobs in world football right now. 

 

But Ivo begins by detailing how his own club, Sporting, were in a much more perilous position than United are now when Amorim first arrived.

 

"He arrived in 2020 and things weren’t well at Sporting," he recalls. "We had a new president and it was his second or third year, and it was not a president that was welcomed by most of the supporters. He was trying to do his best to keep the fans happy. 

 

"It was the aftermath, still, of what happened when some silly supporters went to the academy and tried to beat up some players [in 2018]. So the team was literally broken at the time. In between 2018 and 2020, we had six or seven coaches. We had a coach for three months and then we sacked them, and then a interim coach for a month and then we’d sack him. So there was loads of instability during that timeframe. When Amorim arrived, the team was shattered." 

 

Costa even admits that Amorim himself was not particularly welcome, when he arrived from Braga after Sporting slapped down an unprecedented (for Portuguese football) €10m fee to capture his services.

 

"People were quite afraid, and the reason was that he only had six months of experience at Braga. So he didn’t have that much to show yet.

 

"Ten million is a crazy amount of money to pay in the Portuguese league for a coach," Ivo continues. "Also people were sceptical because we know that he is a Benfica supporter and an ex-Benfica player. As you know, Benfica and Sporting is like Man City and Man United, right? So imagine a Man City legend going to coach Man United. Everybody would be, like, ‘What’s going on?’ 

 

"So everybody was very sceptical, and I didn’t know much about him until we signed him up and we started searching out his interviews. But from day one, as soon as the first interviews [happened] and [we heard ] the way he talks… he talks very, very calm. He’s also methodical when he speaks. We could see that he was a genuine guy, and he brought a bit of peace to the players."

The three-at-the-back talk might have dominated discourse within the English-speaking media since Amorim agreed to join this country's biggest club, but it's his people skills that Costa identifies as the Portuguese's most valuable attribute. And it's those skills that he believes United's new head coach will focus on in the early weeks.

 

"Our team wasn't very motivated [at the time that he came]," Ivo remembers. "A lot of players left after the incident in the academy. Bruno Fernandes left. Even the players that were there had experienced like seven coaches in two or three years. Obviously there wasn't much confidence in the leadership of the club.

 

"But Amorim's not only like a football coach; he’s like a human coach. He’s like one of those motivational speakers. I think if he wouldn’t be associated with football, he would be one of the best guys at  doing motivational speaking across the world. 

 

"Recently I’ve seen interviews of players, after he announced his exit, and some players see him almost like a second father, because he invested so much and he helped so many players to reach their potential. He got the team all together with the way he speaks. It’s the way he speaks and the way he motivates people to reach their potential.

 

"I think his first thing [at United] is going to be to motivate the players, and he will have the help of Bruno Fernandes there. Manuel Ugarte is also there, who also played for Sporting, so I know he will have the help of at least those two players. I think the first thing is going to be to motivate the players and then do a few changes in tactics."

In Amorim's first full season in Lisbon, the effect was astounding: Sporting won the title by a chunky five points and lost just one of their 34 league games – a defeat away at Benfica after the title had already been confirmed.

 

Motivation and togetherness was the foundation, in Ivo's estimation. But what about the football, then?

 

"It has always been beautiful, well-played football, playing from the back," he continues. "In Portugal, we play a lot from the back, building up from defence and moving forward. So from day one, he wanted to play that style of football and he kept up with his ideas. 

 

"But he actually said on an interview a few days ago that nowadays the football is not only about the tactic, but how to read the game and how do you motivate the players. That’s where he thinks that his success comes from: from bringing the players up to their best potential. Look at Victor Gyokeres. Did you ever think that two years ago, when he was at Coventry, that he would reach the potential that he’s at right now?

A lot has also been made of Amorim's communication skills when dealing with the world beyond the walls of the dressing room: namely, the media and supporters. Costa says that one of Amorim's recent press conferences, before Sporting's memorable victory over Manchester City, was a sound example.

 

"I think what happened on that interview where he was asked to speak in English, I think he didn’t want to speak in English not because he doesn’t know how, but because he was there to speak about Sporting to the Sporting journalists and the Sporting fans," analyses Ivo. 

 

"It was about respect. When he said the Portuguese would ‘miss me’ he didn’t mean they would miss him as a farewell, but that they would not understand him. He was there to speak about that game [against Manchester City]. Obviously it’s for the press, but it’s also for the people at home. The people watching it need to understand what he’s saying, as he’s representing a Portuguese team. That was the main thing.

 

"I know how tough the English press is, but the Portuguese press is pretty much the same," chuckles Costa. "All his press conferences are usually very good, very light-hearted. 

 

"Even after the match, I never, ever heard him blaming the team for something that happened.  He can say ‘they were a bit too stressed’ or out of position, but he would not say 'the guy missed that’ and put the fault on a player. He always says that, if they lose, that it’s his fault because he didn’t read the game as he should, so it’s the coach’s fault. Even on that side, he’s really, really good. I think the media will love him."

While Amorim was keen to play down the victory over City in his penultimate game in Portugal, Costa believes the success was a good sign for the future – even if it compounded the sadness among Sporting fans.

 

"I think the game was a massive welcome card for Ruben in Europe," he says. "I read on the English press that the timing [of the move to join United] was a bit wrong, not only because it’s mid-season, but because Sporting was going to be playing against Man City, and how awkward would it be for the next Man United coach to be trashed by Man City? 

 

"But look what happened: we won 4-1. We trashed them! For your guys I think it was very, very good, because if he was able to win 4-1 with a Portuguese team, he’s definitely going to do something while he’s in England.

 

"I’m gutted, I’m really gutted," concludes Ivo, as our conversation finishes on a somewhat bittersweet note, as we both inevitably think back to 2020 and draw comparisons to Bruno's move to Manchester. 

 

"It’s football, at the end of the day. It’s like one of those good weddings where, unfortunately, you know one day it’s going to end in divorce! But it’s an amicable divorce! I have no hard feelings whatsoever for Ruben. I know he’s up for the challenge; I know it was a dream that he had and was targeting. He has his reasons, he has his confidence. 

 

"I think you might call me before Christmas saying: ‘You were spot-on!’ because he’s very, very good. He’s a very natural guy, a very likeable guy, and I think he’s going to do very well."