Rio Ferdinand says big change coming under Ruben Amorim, it’s been ‘simple’ for a long time

Ruben Amorim has arrived at Manchester United and large-scale changes are already underway, mainly regarding the coaching staff and tactical setup.

More can be expected in the future with the first team players returning from international duty, giving Ruben Amorim some time on the training pitch.

Amorim is United’s first ‘head coach’ instead of manager, reflecting the new structure under the Ineos regime, but that doesn’t mean he is powerless.

It is more a question of a division of power than of unilateral power exercised by a single man. Therefore, expect many chances to still be headed by the Man Utd manager.

Rio Ferdinand believes a big departure is coming soon among managers after Sir Alex Ferguson.

Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images

Rio Ferdinand predicts big change under Ruben Amorim

For almost every manager after Sir Alex, their cycle at Old Trafford followed a similar pattern: a good start, building on it to provide hope, collapsing, then rebuilding under a new manager.

The hope this time is that it is not a false dawn because the structure above the manager has finally changed.

Furthermore, the manager is also the youngest Man United have hired in the post-Sir Alex era, which has a history of restoring fallen giants to their former glory.

Rio Ferdinand recently spoke on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand Presents, and said that Amorim will make big changes to the team and demand a lot from the players.

He said: “He (Amorim) tells people it’s going to be different. What they (the players) liked the details, the positions, the specifics, the individual players, it’s not going to be as simple as before.

“(Amorim) is going to make demands of the players and it’s going to be different from what you’ve experienced, but I’m buying into it because I’ve done it as a player.

“He showed he could bring success. He brought it to a club lacking success at Sporting Lisbon. He has Twitter pages waiting for his press conferences because he always gives a retort. (Relevant comments close to the 27:50 mark).

A welcome change under Amorim

The question of “identity”, or lack thereof, has followed every manager after Sir Alex Ferguson in different forms. It’s either unclear, undesirable, or too fragile.

The arrival of Erik ten Hag was expected to solve this problem since his Ajax team had thrilled Europe with their sparkling attacking performances.

As it happened, United were given a shadow of the manager they thought they had or, conversely, made a shadow of the manager he was.

If Amorim had the force of personality, which Ten Hag arguably lacked, to drive change and bring an identity to the club, it would be a welcome effect.

Making demands of players is not complicated in football management and is something that Ten Hag already has the basic elements in place.

The Dutchman inherited a mess in the dressing room and it’s something that has improved considerably now, so he deserves credit.

Amorim still needs to make many changes and Man Utd fans would agree with Ferdinand that the early signs are positive.