David Beckham looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on December 2, 2021 in Manchester, England.David Beckham looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on December 2, 2021 in Manchester, England.
David Beckham looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on December 2, 2021 in Manchester, England. | Manchester United via Getty Imag
David Beckham has been giving his view on the current situation at Manchester United
It has certainly been a season which Manchester United fans will remember, though they will likely wish they could forget it. Ruben Amorim arrived from Sporting CP on November 1, and has overseen a highly contrasting campaign domestically and in Europe.
The club’s run to the Europa League final has no doubt been the shining light of Amorim’s tenure, with an extraordinary 5-4 victory quarter-final over Lyon at Old Trafford and a considerably more comfortable 7-1 aggregate win over Athletic Club in the semis both likely to live long in the memory.
Should the Red Devils get the job done against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, with Opta believing United to be slight favourites, it can be argued that Amorim would have achieved what he set out to do once it became clear that European qualification through the Premier League was not a realistic possibility.
Regardless, this will be the club’s lowest league finish since promotion to the old First Division in 1974-75, and that is nothing to be underestimated. Last season’s 8th-placed finish under Erik ten Hag was viewed as a massive failure - as it stands, that drop in league position has been no less than doubled to 16th. Despite this, the general consensus among United fans and former players is to give Amorim time.
What David Beckham has said about Ruben Amorim
Few players embody United’s golden age during the early Premier League era more than David Beckham, who made 394 appearances in 11 years with the club. Beckham has given his view on Amorim’s time at Old Trafford.
"It has not been a great season and I think that's being kind," he told The Athletic. "When there hasn't been stability at the club, it shows. We know when you have stability within the club, you have success. Simple as that.
"I believe that we have a very good manager now - I believe that we have a lot of people who are trying to bring stability around the club. What fans care about most, though, is what happens on the field and what is happening on the field, people are not liking - our fans are not liking.
"But the one thing is, our supporters turn up week after week. There are 74,000 fans in that stadium no matter what, no matter how we're playing or who's playing. The manager knows that - the manager understands that.
"It's why I like Ruben and I think he has got a real opportunity here. He's a young manager with success already under his belt and great experience for his age. So I think he will make the changes that he needs to make."
Europa League final win will keep Ruben Amorim in a job - so could a loss
While the Europa League final result will go a long way to deciding how much of an abject failure the season has been for the Red Devils, it may not be the deciding factor on if Amorim still has a job come August. For a club like United, simply winning a trophy is not enough - so the club hierarchy must decide if they trust the Portuguese to be their man for the long term.
But United have done this dance before, backing Erik ten Hag after a trophy win last campaign - only for the following Premier League season to be even worse than the last. If United’s hierarchy do decide to keep Amorim in a job regardless of the result on in Bilbao they must stick by it, knowing how much of a significant decision it could be.
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