We're here again.
Another manager gone. The TV talking heads are having a field day. Your timeline is wall-to-wall doom. Shambles. Circus. Same old United.
It doesn't feel good. I'm not going to pretend it does.
But I've spent the last day trying to make sense of what actually happened and I don't think this is what it looks like.
In fact, this may be the first time I've actually understood what INEOS are trying to do.
Let me try to explain.
What Amorim Actually Said
In his final press conference, Amorim's final words were essentially "I am a manager. Not a coach."
And football media loved this. "Finally, someone standing up to the board." "More chaos at Man United."
People were saying all sorts of things but everything I've seen has missed what he was actually saying.
Amorim wanted the Fergie model. Sit above every department. Final say on transfers, medical, scouting. Complete control.
INEOS are building something else entirely. A structure where those departments operate independently. Where the head coach just coaches.
It was simple misalignment. We all know he wasn't sacked for the results. If that were the case, he'd be gone a long time ago. I don't even believe he was sacked for speaking out against the board. He was sacked simply because he wanted a job that doesn't exist at the club anymore.
That's not chaos. That's a line being drawn.
Manager vs Coach: The Shift Nobody's Explaining
Here's the distinction the football media hasn’t made.
A manager controls everything. The squad, the staff, the culture. When they succeed, the club succeeds. When they leave, everything they built often leaves with them.
A coach works within a structure. They're given players and told to get results. The scouting department answers to the Director of Football, not them. Same with medical, analytics, youth development.
European football is shifting from the first model to the second. Has been for years. Most clubs have done it half-heartedly. INEOS just drew the line clearly.
Personally - I don't love it. It strips out the romance of a great person transforming a club through a single vision and force of will. That's the football I fell in love with.
But me not loving it doesn't change the fact that it's happening. Across the sport. And now, clearly, at United.
Why Football Is Moving This Way
I work in finance and look at clubs the way I look at any business. The reality is this:
Modern football runs on debt.
Tickets and TV rights just don't cover the cost of competing anymore. To buy the players you want, you need access to cheap money. And to get cheap money, lenders need to trust you'll pay them back.
What do lenders want? Predictability. Stable revenue. A structure that doesn't collapse when one person leaves.
The Fergie model was brilliant. But it was also fragile. When he left, everything left with him. The scouting network. The youth philosophy. The culture. We've spent over a decade trying to rebuild. Deep down, we know we can't. He was the model and we can't get another him.
So now clubs copy the NFL. The General Manager builds the team. The head coach coaches whoever he's given. If the coach fails, you fire him. Since every other department operates independently, the structure survives.
It feels corporate because it is. But it's the direction the entire sport is heading.
The Names Being Mentioned Are All Wrong
This is where the media coverage gets frustrating.
Glasner. Xavi. Tuchel. Maresca. Big names. Proven success.
But every single one would have the exact same problem Amorim did.
They're all managers. They all want control. They all have the ego, the brand, the desire to be _the _guy.
That's simply not what the new age structure is looking for.
The club needs someone who'll accept being a coach. Little ego. No celebrity ambitions. No demands for transfer control. Someone who takes the players they're given and squeezes everything out of them.
Those coaches exist. Kieran McKenna seems to be one. There are others coming through academies and lower leagues. Obsessive tacticians. Motivators. The type who take blame for losses and give players credit for wins.
But the TV talking heads don't mention them because they don't know them. And they don't know them because that's not the football they grew up with. There never used to be a distinction, all managers were the same.
Why the Pundits Keep Getting This Wrong
I don't think Gary Neville and Co are acting in bad faith. I believe he genuinely believes what he's saying is for the greater good.
The problem is that no matter how much he tries, at the end of the day he is not in the football business. He's in the media business. He, nor any social media football influencer, gets paid to understand the game anymore. They all get paid if they get reactions/engagement.
And what gets reactions? Outrage. Drama. UNITED IN CRISIS.
A sober explanation of how modern football structures work doesn't trend. It doesn't get clicks. So we don't hear it.
It’s sad because all us fans want is to understand what’s actually happening at our club. That’s the bit that frustrates me. Completely misaligned incentives.
What I Actually Think
Let me be upfront about where I stand.
I wish the club would keep to the structure of old. Give Amorim the keys. Let him be what Fergie was. Under the manager model, I truly do think he's one of the best in the world.
So I'm not glad he's gone.
But I accept he wasn't the right fit for the role that was actually available - the one key to INEOS’ structure. That's a different thing and I think it's important the difference is understood.
The Point of This
I write not to tell you to trust INEOS. Nor am I trying to say the new model is good. I'm not even telling you to feel okay about the future of the club.
All I want to do is say that something real is happening. A structural shift in how football clubs operate. It's uncomfortable. It doesn't feel like the United we grew up with.
But it's not chaos.
For the first time in years, I think I actually understand what the club is trying to do. You don't have to like it. But it helps to see it clearly.