Is Ruben Amorim the most relatable person working in English football today? This is a guy who openly admits that he hates his job, he hates his co-workers, and he even hates his kids. Some days, he probably hates all three. One of us.
But there are also days when he loves his job, he loves the players that are in his care, and — although he did not explicitly clarify this point while meeting the media to preview Burnley’s Premier League visit to Old Trafford this weekend — he presumably loves his children, too.
Amorim contains multitudes. Yes, he is the manager of Manchester United but sometimes, he is also just a guy, standing in front of ITV reporter Gabriel Clarke, asking how a line-up he picked worth a combined £401million contrived to lose to fourth-tier Grimsby Town in round two of the Carabao Cup.
Which is to say — in case it was not already clear from his record of just seven wins from his first 29 Premier League games in charge at United — Amorim is human. He is flawed, and his openness in admitting to those flaws is arguably his greatest strength right now.
Time was that if a United manager had appeared to question his players’ commitment to his project on the back of one of the most dismal results in the club’s history, that toxicity would seep into every pore of the next game’s pre-match preparations, making for a tense, fraught press conference.
Walking into the club’s Carrington training base on Friday, you half-expected Amorim to still be seething. How could he not be, given his complaints at Blundell Park less than 48 hours earlier appeared to draw his very authority over this squad of players into question?
Yet when asked to clarify those remarks, about how his players “spoke really loud about what they want”, he started by stifling an embarrassed laugh.
“To be really honest with you guys, every time that we had, or have in the future, one defeat like that, I’m going to be like that,” Amorim said. “I’m going to say that sometimes I hate my players, sometimes I love my players, sometimes I want to defend my players. This is my way of doing things. I’m going to be like that.”
Amorim could barely hide his disgust after United’s dismal Carabao Cup exit at the hands of Grimsby (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The wild-eyed stare that briefly threatened to bore into Clarke’s soul on Wednesday night had been replaced by a softer gaze. He told journalists to expect more outbursts to come, “so prepare yourselves”, but with a smile. What could have been a tense, fraught occasion was instead defused by this disarming self-deprecation. You can see how this guy gets away with telling his billionaire boss to “f**k off”.
And yet, beneath that veneer of embarrassment, Amorim was also totally unapologetic. He knows he is in a position where his every mistake, flaw and vulnerability is scrutinised to the Nth degree. His response?
“I’m tired of saying that I’m not going to behave like this or that,” he said. “I’m going to be myself.
“I know, again, that you have a lot of experienced people talking about the way I should perform with the media: to be more constant, to be more calm,” he added, seemingly aware that on Friday morning, an email from a PR company representing a body language expert landed in my inbox, offering insights on Amorim’s touchline behaviour. Maybe it had landed in his, too.
The sight of him moving the little magnets representing United’s players about on his tactics board during the Grimsby game was classic displacement behaviour, apparently. His pacing up and down the touchline? Evidence of a scattered rather than structured mindset. Expert analysis, but also stating the bleeding obvious about a manager who wears his heart on his sleeve at United like he did his old ‘treinador’ armband at previous club Sporting CP.
In any case, is this not what many want from the manager of their club? Hiding in a dugout during a penalty shootout aside, a lot of supporters would say yes.
Amorim’s passion does not just tell us but shows us that he cares. When so much of modern coaching is associated with the tactical, theoretical and cerebral, it is refreshing to remember that management is as much about personality: the good and bad.
A lot of journalists would be quite happy for Amorim to continue baring his soul in this way to us as well, including myself. He is good copy. He gives great headlines, quite literally for his infamous “worst team in United history” quote back in January, when he followed it by telling us: “Here you go, your headlines.”
More seriously, his rare candour for someone in his position opens the door a little wider on one of the biggest football clubs in the world, making us and our audiences better informed. No journalist would advise him to keep his counsel more. I’m certainly not about to start.
The only nagging thought is, what must the players think? Amorim was asked whether he expected his comments would have a galvanising effect on the squad or if, by saying what he did on Wednesday night, he had risked a more damaging reaction.
“(A positive response) is always the idea but, to be honest with you, when I have these comments, I am not thinking about that,” he said. “What you saw is what I saw, and I tell the truth… I’m really honest on what I see. I cannot say a different thing… I am not going to change the narrative or control the narrative.”
That is all well and good, and totally consistent with the rest of Amorim’s unorthodox media strategy, but by not considering what effect his words may have on the very players he is speaking about, he ignores the hugely significant bearing that morale, mood and harmony have on performances and results.
The same performances and results, of course, which seem to dictate whether Amorim wants to stay at United for the next 20 years or clear his desk the morning after a game.
Amorim doesn’t appear minded to sugar-coat his comments for his players’ benefit (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
There is an irony that Amorim’s most explosive public comments to date have come in the same week as Alejandro Garnacho finalising his departure from Old Trafford.
Garnacho’s exit is not down to one single moment or factor, but the breaking point came after some inadvisable, impassioned remarks of his own, in the white heat of the Europa League final disappointment in May, when he openly questioned Amorim’s decision to only introduce him as a 71st-minute substitute with United trailing 1-0 against Tottenham in that midweek fixture.
By that weekend, he was being told by Amorim, in front of the rest of the squad, to find a new club. Everyone can say something they shouldn’t in the heat of the moment, but only some end up joining Chelsea as a result.
Amorim’s response to Grimsby has been just as we have come to expect: typically Amorim. But we will learn more about his players’ response from 3pm today as they return to action against Burnley.
And then, at around ten past five, in Old Trafford’s press room after the game, it will be fascinating to see which Amorim turns up to talk to us.
(Top photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)