Goncalo Gregorio exclusive: 'I played under Ruben Amorim at Casa Pia and Braga and couldn’t stop scoring… everybody loved him’
Six months and six days.
That's how long Ruben Amorim had spent at third-tier Portuguese side Casa Pia when he made an announcement that would leave a dressing room in tears.
"I looked across and the player next to me was crying," recalls Goncalo Gregorio, who was Casa Pia's top scorer at the time. "Then I looked around the room and others were in tears.
"Most of these guys had played in the top division under a lot of different managers... they were experienced. Ruben tried hiding it by looking over his shoulder but he was emotional. He likes to camouflage his feelings but as always, he ended up smiling."
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Having guided the Lisbon-based club to unprecedented heights, Amorim reluctantly resigned from his post at the Estadio Pina Manique in early January 2019.
It was a decision that came shortly after the Portuguese Football Federation suspended him for a year for delivering in-game instructions without having the appropriate UEFA badges. Officially, he was only registered as a coaching intern.
After the club were threatened with a points deduction and a significant fine, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned Amorim's suspension but, to the surprise of many, the man in charge decided to leave.
"The captain and those with more power were trying to get him to stay," Gregorio tells SPORTbible. "I remember my teammates saying, 'You should stay with us and battle. We are on this ship together.' Three or four guys tried to get him to reconsider, including myself.
"I was playing so well at the time. Last year, for example, I was playing for Dinamo Bucharest, one of the biggest clubs in Romania. We had a really good connection with the coach. He left and nobody was crying. With Ruben, it was different. He is not just a manager. He is like a father. A friend."
Those who would run through brick walls for their manager tried putting a stop to the escalating situation but deep down, Amorim knew it was the right time to leave. He thought it was unfair that people were trying to damage his reputation.
"Honestly, we were playing great and the atmosphere was so good but we couldn't change his final decision," Gregorio says. "He was upset with numerous things. We had to respect it."
More than four years on from Amorim's resignation and the amount of respect Gregorio has for the now-Manchester United manager is palpable; even if they haven't been in touch for a while. It's easy to understand why when you peel away the layers of their relationship.
In the summer of 2018, Goncalo Gregorio was stuck in a rut.
With just five goals to his name across the 2017/18 campaign – a run of form that brought criticism from fans – his confidence was at an all-time low when the charismatic figure of Ruben Amorim walked through the weathered doors of Casa Pia's training ground.
After accepting a contract that was less than half the minimum wage, Amorim got to work on improving every aspect of the club. One of his first demands was to reschedule training from 7pm to an early morning slot.
He also insisted that the grass be cut and watered regularly to encourage a fast-paced style of play. Amorim wanted a professional set-up.
"He was really demanding," Gregorio says. "Ruben wanted the best conditions for us to prepare; whether that was organising ice baths or doing more gym work to prevent injuries. He introduced physical tests that we didn't have beforehand. He did so much.
"Directors and other people in higher positions didn't want to change these things as other processes had been put in place for a long time but he went against them. He thought it was important."
Gregorio smiles as he reminisces about those times. "We wanted to give absolutely everything for him. He felt so passionate about the job and football itself. You just want to pay him back."
Despite his intentions, however, Amorim's reign got off to a disastrous start. In fact, after Casa Pia suffered defeats in their opening two games of the season, Amorim told sporting director Carlos Pires that he would quit if they lost the following week.
“We managed to calm him down, convince him to keep working and it would bring results,” Pires told The Athletic. “There was no chance he could leave.”
Thankfully for all involved, Casa Pia recorded a 4-0 win over Pinhalnovense as a certain Goncalo Gregorio scored a hat-trick. Amorim experimented with a 3-4-3 formation that has become all too familiar at Braga and Sporting in recent years, and an eight-game unbeaten run followed thanks, in part, to Gregorio, who couldn't stop scoring.
"I just felt really confident playing under him," the 29-year-old says.
"His passion to work every day with a smile is infectious. Football can be an exhausting profession, and sometimes a player doesn't want to train or move. He won't have any of that. We all wanted to get up and give everything for him. He created a family."
When asked which of his teammates improved most under Amorim, the Lisbon-born striker grins.
"If I'm being honest, all of the team, but the main example was me. I went from scoring five goals in the previous season to scoring 25 goals in a few months. I flourished in his 3-4-3 system. The striker has to focus on playing between the lines, but I was supported by both the wingers and full-backs. We had solutions all of the time, in any situation.
"One of the best things about Ruben is the way he gets the best out of every single player," says Gregorio, who now plays for Armenian Premier League side FC Noah. "Whether you're in the academy or a regular in the first-team, he'll treat you the same."
Amorim is widely renowned as a great tactician. His teams will sit deep when required and push high at the right moment but time and time again, it's his character that shines through.
Bruno Simao, a childhood friend of Amorim, recently told the story of a player at Casa Pia who couldn't afford to pay rent or look after his children and as a result, the authorities threatened to take his kids away from him.
Amorim stepped in and promised to find a solution.
"I remember he paid an entire year of his rent for the house," says Gregorio. "The player had some difficulties. He was working at McDonald's and playing at the same time, so he didn't have a great deal of money. It meant so much to him. He'd often say that Ruben was like a father to him.
"And here's the thing. This guy almost never played in our team but Ruben said he was important, like the rest of us. He wasn't even in the 18-man squad. Ruben had money to do it but there are a lot of people who have money and wouldn't do such a thing… It sums him up as a man."
A handful of players felt that kind of support from Amorim, even after he left Casa Pia.
Andre Paulo, his first-choice goalkeeper, suffered a season-ending knee injury, just two weeks after Amorim's departure.
Gregorio recalls him being out for several months as Casa Pia secured promotion to the second tier. In fact, the club decided to let him leave after a lack of minutes, so Paulo returned to the third division with Real Sport Clube.
A year later, when Amorim took over at Sporting, his first signing was the goalkeeper who was so integral at the start of his coaching career. Paulo, who said he was "eternally grateful" to Amorim for the opportunity, made his first-team debut for one of Portugal's biggest clubs in 2021.
Gregorio goes on to share his favourite memory from working under Amorim at Casa Pia, and it might just give you an idea as to why he was suspended by the Portuguese Football Federation. Still, you can’t fault his passion.
"He wasn't allowed to stand up from the bench because he was an intern but on one occasion, the referee wasn't blowing up after I was the target of some hard tackles," he begins.
"We lost and he went crazy. He wanted to speak to the official and it took four or five of us to drag him away. He just wanted to defend me. It's a memory that still touches me. He cares about his players. His will to win was massive, and we needed that in the third division. We needed that to earn our salary; to live. He felt that."
Nine months after leaving Casa Pia, Amorim was appointed head coach of Braga reserves, where he would pick up seven wins from a possible eight. Amorim spent just three months with the B team before being promoted to the senior side in December 2019 but that period was special for Goncalo Gregorio.
By sheer coincidence, he was on loan at Braga B when the Portuguese coach walked through the doors. After such an impressive campaign under Amorim at Casa Pia, Gregoria was snapped up by soon-to-be Primeira Liga side Ferreira Palace.
"I needed to go out on loan to prove myself; to show I wasn't just a one-season wonder," he recalls. "Braga B called me and said they were interested. After five games of the season, the coach was fired and Amorim took over.
"I said to all of my teammates, 'Hey, this guy will come and you're going to love him'. They asked why, which was understandable as I'd only been with him for four months. I said, 'Believe me, you will love him too much.' It was true. Everybody loved him."
"Three or four months later, he got promoted to Braga's first-team. He told me that the president was going to buy me and I'd soon be a first-team player. But then Sporting bought him for €10 million, so our paths went in different directions.”
Amorim went on to become one of Europe's most exciting and highly-rated coaches across a four-year spell at Sporting, where he would lift five trophies, including two league titles. Gregorio would soon play for Zaglebie Sosnowiec in Poland and Dinamo Bucharest; one of Romania's biggest clubs.
But he struggled to replicate the form that made him one of Portugal’s most clinical strikers. That short but prolific spell under Amorim took his game to another level.
"I mentioned it before but I just felt so confident playing under him," the striker says. "He brings an incredible aura to the team."
So what can Manchester United players expect from Amorim in the coming weeks and months?
"Everything will be different under Ruben," says Gregorio. "Right now, United are fragile. They aren't in a good way but he has the power and authority to change everything. He will put every process in place. Gym, training, tactics. You name it. He will change everything."
In his first training session at Carrington, the energy and intensity was clear, and so were the patterns of play imported straight from the Casa Pia training ground all those years ago.
United lined up in his favoured 3-4-2-1 setup, featuring a compact back three, overlapping wingbacks and inside forwards. Somebody who Gregorio believes will flourish under Amorim is Marcus Rashford.
He said: "Rashford has the potential to be his striker. He can make diagonals because he's very fast and has a good shot. I can imagine Bruno Fernandes playing at number 10, like Pedro Gonçalves at Sporting. Amad could take Francisco Trincão's position.
"But if he doesn't have the right players, then Ruben will scout the market. [Viktor] Gyokeres will be a target, for sure. He's scoring a lot of goals right now."
On the subject of Rashford, who has struggled for consistency in recent times, Gregorio is convinced Amorim can help turn things around, just like he did with him at Casa Pia.
"This is one of the best things about Ruben," says Gregorio. "He'll clear everything in their minds. It's a new life for them. Even Antony, I see criticism but what about giving him a chance to play behind the striker? If he works hard, that is... If he doesn't, he'll kick him out for sure."
He has only taken a handful of training sessions ahead of Sunday's anticipated clash against Ipswich Town but Amorim has "guaranteed" to give United fans an idea of what's to come.
"I will definitely be watching that game," Gregorio says. "It'll be midnight here in Armenia but I'll try and stay up. He will win, for sure. This process will require some time but you'll see a difference in terms of the character of the team."
As we wrap up our lengthy chat, Gregorio has one last thing to say about his former manager's next challenge. "Ruben will not be known as the Special One, but the Smiley One," he grins. "I think he'll be remembered for his smile."
Will he be smiling when the full-time whistle blows at Portman Road on Sunday evening? Time will tell.
Topics: Portugal, Premier League, Spotlight, Man Utd, Sporting CP
Jack Kenmare