Sir Alex Ferguson's Private Man Utd Comments to Gareth Southgate Are Telling
Ruben Amorim is one of the most talked about managers in the Premier League and the subject of intense speculation about his job prospects.
Manchester United brought the former Sporting CP boss in a year ago to succeed Erik ten Hag but the improvements have been paper-thin and Amorim doesn't have a trophy to act as ballast in any discussion of his qualities.
Results aside, one of the big question marks is one of culture and philosophy at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils have winning in their blood. Amorim is resolutely committed to a tactical system. The two haven't quite achieved the overlap United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe would have hoped.
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Their biggest winner of all was Alex Ferguson, who collected Premier League and Champions League honours like a groundhopper grabbing pin badges on Saturday afternoons.
United have been able to lift a few trophies since Ferguson retired but there have been far fewer high points than their supporters had been used to.
One of them was a 2019 win against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team came back from the dead at the Parc des Princes to reach the last eight thanks to a stoppage time Marcus Rashford penalty, winning the tie on away goals.
Gareth Southgate, the former England boss who's been linked with the United job consistently for many years, revealed that he'd spoken to an impressed Ferguson after the match.
"I was talking to Sir Alex Ferguson after the game, briefly, and he was saying 'that’s the United DNA'," Southgate told talkSPORT.
"Ole has been connecting with the fans. He knows the way United are and has those experiences.
"The players are playing with smiles on their faces and getting the best out of them."
Will Amorim be the next manager to get sacked?
Amorim would be the favourite to be the next Premier League manager to lose his job if it weren't for the bizarre scenario unfolding at Nottingham Forest, where Ange Postecoglou is expected to get the boot before he's even found a spot in his office for his Europa League medal.
It's already been a tumultuous half a decade for the Red Devils.
Solskjaer's occasional ability to harness the so-called United DNA kept him in the job until November 2021.
Ralf Rangnick stepped in until the end of the 2021-22 season and former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy did the same between Ten Hag and Amorim.
No permanent United manager since Ferguson has yet been able to match his career win rate.
Topics: Gareth Southgate, Sir Alex Ferguson, Man Utd
Chris Nee