It’s Monday, 5am in Manchester. The thermometer on the dashboard reads -5°C. I’m up early to travel to Fes, Morocco, for a week to follow the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). My first game will be later today, a last-16 encounter between Nigeria and Mozambique, but that seems a long time and one connection flight away.
After clearing a thick film of ice off the windscreen, I return the rental car to Manchester Airport, where the man from the hire car company is a Manchester United fan. As he takes me to the airport terminal, he asks: “Will Amorim last the week?”
Ruben Amorim’s clearly agitated and emotional behaviour in his past two press conferences on Friday and Sunday has cast significant doubt on his survival.
I don’t know the answer, nor that his dismissal has already been decided while I'm on my first leg of my journey to Barcelona. Friday saw an argument; he called out his bosses again on Sunday. Very quickly, it looked like the endgame, despite United sitting a respectable sixth in the Premier League table. It meant United were on target to secure European football for next season.
But United have been up and down all season, registering impressive wins against top sides including Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Crystal Palace, yet suffering some awful defeats against Grimsby, Everton and Brentford. And those came when the team has ample time to prepare for matches since last season’s 15th-place league finish – United's lowest in half a century – meant no European football this term.
Failure to beat Wolves, who had not won a game all season, last week saw the mood sink at Old Trafford. Players were not happy and this was conveyed to the manager.
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