Paul Scholes believes Ruben Amorim made a crucial mistake when he arrived at Manchester United, drawing comparisons to David Moyes’ short reign as Manchester United manager.
Manchester United sacked Ruben Amorim last week after 14 months as head coach.
Results were heavily criticised throughout Amorim’s time at Old Trafford, but they did improve after a dismal initial campaign saw United finish 15th in the Premier League and lose the Europa League final against Tottenham.
Darren Fletcher stood in for two matches after Amorim was dismissed, but Michael Carrick is set to become interim head coach until the end of the season.
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Patrick Dorgu celebrates with his teammates during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United.
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United will announce a new permanent head coach in the summer, with multiple candidates emerging to land the biggest job in football.
Whoever is lucky enough to get the job will need to learn from some of the mistakes made by Amorim.
Ruud van Nistelrooy attends World Cup draw
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Paul Scholes says Ruben Amorim missed a trick with Ruud van Nistelrooy
United fans have been debating Amorim’s sacking as well as who is best suited to the interim role over the past week.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was a strong contender to return to the Old Trafford hot seat, but Ineos were left impressed by Carrick after face-to-face meetings with the leading candidates.
It is understood that Ruud van Nistelrooy was on the list of potential options to become interim head coach, a role he held after Erik ten Hag was sacked in October 2024.
Van Nistelrooy took charge of United’s first team for four matches, winning three and drawing one. The arrival of Amorim meant that the former goalscorer would depart the club, like the vast majority of Ten Hag’s backroom staff.
Former United midfielder Paul Scholes has now weighed in on the debate with his opinion, stating that Amorim made a mistake by not keeping Van Nistelrooy as part of his backroom staff.
Van Nistelrooy went on to manage Leicester City before leading the Foxes to relegation and getting sacked, but Scholes has argued that Amorim needed a coach with experience in the Premier League to help him in the job.
Scholes made a comparison to when Moyes succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson at United because neither Mike Phelan nor Rene Meulensteen remained at the club.
“I think Amorim probably made a mistake not taking Ruud with him he’s a new manager to the Premier League,” Scholes said on The Good, The Bad, & The Football podcast.
“He’s not seen any of it and all his staff were the same, not seen all of it.
“They all came from Portugal. They don’t know what it’s about.
“Keeping someone like Ruud would have been valuable to him. And I think David Moyes made the same mistake and I think he openly admitted I should have kept a Mike Phelan or Rene Meulensteen.”
What David Moyes told Ruben Amorim to ‘fix’ at Man Utd 🗣️🎙️
It’s not always calling the players out, but I see a little bit where I think the players are quite happy to hide behind the manager and let him take the hit for them. I could do with some of them saying, ‘I’m not quite at it at the moment, not playing well.’
We’re not getting much of that. That work rate is the first thing that any manager has to talk with players about.
-Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast in 2024
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Another coach this applies to from Ferguson’s successful period at United is Eric Steele, United’s former goalkeeper coach, who learned Spanish to build a closer connection with David de Gea before Moyes brought in Chris Woods as his goalkeeper coach.
What did David Moyes say about Mike Phelan and Rene Meulensteen?
Scholes is right. Moyes did admit that his decision to overhaul the coaching staff at United in 2013 was one of his biggest regrets, especially when it comes to Phelan.
However, Moyes also revealed he did try to keep Meulensteen as part of his staff.
Speaking to beIN Sports, as per The Mirror, Moyes said: “In hindsight, I should have kept one of the staff that Alex had – which I tried to do and it didn’t work out.
“I offered Rene the job and he decided not to stay. If I knew Rene wasn’t going to stay, I would have been better keeping Mike.
“Managers take their whole staff with them when they go to new clubs so it wasn’t unusual.”
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