Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer
Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer (Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
Alan Shearer's comments in the wake of Manchester United's 3-2 defeat on Saturday summed up the problem facing Manchester United at the moment.
Despite a positive start under Amorim, two successive defeats this week have seen the club stumble towards their next disaster.
When asked about the job facing new manager Ruben Amorim, Shearer told BBC's Match of the Day: "He must have walked into that football club and thought: 'this is what you are giving me? You spent £600million with the previous manager and this is what I have to work with?'.
"He has got a huge job on his hands."
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Around £200million of that outlay was spent in this summer's transfer market and yet United find themselves in 13th place in the Premier League table after 15 games - their lowest ever position at this stage of the season.
The arrivals of Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee all happened under the watch of sporting director Dan Ashworth and while De Ligt, Mazraoui and Zirkzee have the hallmarks of being the signings of former boss Erik ten Hag, it is clear where the club's power brokers felt where the blame belonged.
Despite only being appointed as sporting director in July, after a lengthy public pursuit that cost the club millions in compensation to prise him away from Newcastle, Dan Ashworth left the club by mutual consent in the wake of the loss to Forest.
It is believed co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was pivotal in the decision to part ways and CEO Omar Berrada delivered the news to Ashworth at Old Trafford after the loss to Forest.
Given he has only had months in the post, the announcement has come as a shock but it is clear Ratcliffe considers the whole saga an expensive mistake, while United are in the midst of cutting their cloth financially.
The question now is where United go next but public approval for the Ineos-led machine is fading rapidly. It is a decision they must get right and, by Ratcliffe's own admission, their recruitment simply has to improve if Amorim is to succeed as the club's manager.