The buildup and aftermath of Leeds is widely viewed as the end for Ruben Amorim, but Rio Ferdinand could see it coming when he interviewed Bruno Fernandes.
Unlike the likes of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, or Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand receives media access at Man Utd, and is generally extremely supportive of the club.
Ruben Amorim never once called him out the same way he did other ex-players-turned-pundits, and his interviews with the likes of Leny Yoro and Senne Lammens mean he comes from a position of authority.
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Therefore, it is really interesting to see his latest take on the Ruben Amorim sacking, which he claims, with the benefit of hindsight, he saw coming earlier.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty ImagesRio Ferdinand on Ruben Amorim when he interviewed Bruno Fernandes
Ferdinand went to Carrington to speak to Bruno Fernandes around mid-December, which is when Amorim was in a fairly jovial mood publicly.
His side had beaten Wolves 4-1 away from home, and a thrilling 4-4 draw at home against Bournemouth provided hope for a better future.
However, if Ferdinand is to be believed, he saw the “start of the end” for Amorim when he spoke to him while he was at Carrington to interview Fernandes.
Despite his good mood in the media, Ferdinand saw Amorim as a “distant” and “depressed” man when he spoke to him privately that day.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: “I have seen him on tour, and he’s normally so enlightened, wide-eyed, insightful, and energetic. I actually met the manager and spent about five-ten minutes talking as I always do.
“This time [when Ferdinand went and interviewed Bruno], he looked distant. He looked a bit depressed and a bit down. Now I can only say this with hindsight, but that must have been the start of the end for Ruben Amorim. There was a difference.”
Amorim became overwhelmed with the job by the end
As more and more details emerge around his sacking, it’s becoming quite clear that the media-facing version of Amorim and the actual person were two very different people.
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In public, he struck an honest and confident tone, always charming the room with his charisma, but he was becoming overwhelmed by the pressure in private.
Therefore, the suggestions from the board to be more tactically flexible, if they arrived, could have just been the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
It can’t go unnoticed that Amorim is one of the Man Utd managers who was backed faithfully by Ineos, so his outburst at the one time he was asked to be flexible is hard to accept.
Ultimately, the United job is a well-established crown of thorns at this point, so Amorim should recover from it, but it is increasingly looking like a poor decision to hire him in the first place.
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