{"id":586211,"date":"2025-11-22T06:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/586211\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T06:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:12:16","slug":"terrified-norman-whiteside-explains-what-separates-sir-alex-fergusons-man-utd-teams-from-ruben-amorims-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/586211\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Terrified’… Norman Whiteside explains what separates Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd teams from Ruben Amorim’s side"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manchester United legend Norman Whiteside broke down a key difference that he has noticed between teams under Sir Alex Ferguson and the current side under Ruben Amorim.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Norman Whiteside came through the Manchester United youth academy<\/a> and was already at Old Trafford<\/a> long before the arrival of the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sir Jim Ratcliffe gave Ruben Amorim his support <\/p>\n

\n

Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years. That\u2019s where I would be.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"mailJoin our newsletter for news & smart analysis. <\/p>\n

The 60-year-old United legend<\/a> climbed into the Red Devils\u2019 first-team squad<\/a> in the early 1980s before Ferguson replaced Ron Atkinson as United manager<\/a> in 1986.<\/p>\n

Whiteside lifted two FA Cups with the Red Devils and the former midfielder and forward made 259 appearances for the club and netted 63 times for United<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ex-Northern Ireland international\u2019s United run came to an end in 1989 and Whiteside moved to Everton and saw out the rest of his career with the Toffees.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Gary Lineker argues Premier League rule is \u2018absolutely wrong\u2019 after what has happened to Man Utd<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"FormerPhoto by Matthew Peters\/Manchester United via Getty ImagesNorman Whiteside identifies what Sir Alex Ferguson had in his favour that Ruben Amorim does not at Man Utd<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sir Alex Ferguson is widely regarded as one of the best managers of all time and Manchester United enjoyed incredible success during his remarkable reign.<\/p>\n

The 83-year-old Scotsman ushered in an incredible period of dominance over English football for United from the 1990s up to his retirement from management in 2013.<\/p>\n

Ferguson engineered United\u2019s historic treble win<\/a> in the famed 1998-99 season and the Red Devils lifted all 13 of their Premier League titles under the iconic Scot.<\/p>\n

Who is Manchester United\u2019s best manager since Sir Alex Ferguson? <\/p>\n

Speaking to Manchester United\u2019s official website<\/a>, Norman Whiteside insisted that the \u2018fear factor\u2019 of Old Trafford\u2019s status as a fortress played a key role for Ferguson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are coming to Old Trafford not afraid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the thing, certainly with Fergie\u2019s teams, he wanted to build it up so teams should be terrified coming to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter who it is. Whether it\u2019s Liverpool, [Manchester] City, Everton, Chelsea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. They always thought they were coming here and would be happy with a point, that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve started a couple of seasons lately, being beaten in the opening games at Old Trafford, and it has to be a bit more locked up to get to the back old fortress idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Ruben Amorim\u2019s \u2018feeling\u2019 was Man Utd had \u2018world-class player\u2019 before season started, \u2018small things\u2019 are now showing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Norman Whiteside\u2019s assessment of Old Trafford under Ruben Amorim in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era<\/strong><\/p>\n

Old Trafford has struggled to maintain the ethos of Ferguson\u2019s legacy as a formidable stadium to play at since the former manager bowed out of the club.<\/p>\n

United have not lifted the Premier League title<\/a> since the 2012-13 campaign and the Red Devils have been left lingering in the shadows of Ferguson\u2019s achievements.<\/p>\n

Whiteside was asked about Old Trafford now under Ruben Amorim<\/a> and he admitted that he could see elements of the fortress factor creeping back to the club\u2019s stadium.<\/p>\n

Are you confident Manchester United will beat Everton? <\/p>\n

\u201cSlowly,\u201d he said, before adding: \u201cVery slowly. Yes, there is a little improvement but, as you know, we\u2019re not getting carried away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do the hospitality on matchdays, I\u2019ve been doing that for 30-odd years now, and I would always give my two pennies\u2019 worth before the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whiteside continued: \u201cI used to say Old Trafford was a fortress and this would be 2-0 or 3-0, but I always said nil!<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the last few years, you know, we\u2019re giving goals away, which isn\u2019t what we were used to.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I would say 2-1 or 3-2 and, when you start giving the other team a goal start, it\u2019s not quite the same fortress we used to have. But slowly, slowly, they are starting to do okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Devils have won three of their last five Premier League matches and United\u2019s last outing at Old Trafford ended in a 4-2 win against Brighton last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United legend Norman Whiteside broke down a key difference that he has noticed between teams under Sir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[94,184850,1883,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-586211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-norman-whiteside","10":"tag-sir-alex-ferguson","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115591876609340461","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}