In hiring Ruben Amorim, Manchester United must finally break free from their cultish culture and lean on structure

Enter Dan Ashworth with the decision that could define his career.

As Ashworth himself revealed in these pages earlier this month, now the pressure is really on. “Appointing a coach is the hardest [part of the job],” he said. “If you sign a player and he doesn’t work out, you can hide him. If you hire a head coach and that doesn’t work out, there’s no place to hide.”

Indeed. This one is on him. And if, as seems likely, Sporting’s Ruben Amorim is eventually confirmed, their respective professional fates become entwined like a married couple.

Of course the Manchester United Director of Football will be assisted by CEO Omar Berrada, technical director Jason Wilcock and vibes guru Sir Dave Brailsford, aka Head of Sport at INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s company and now the driving force at United. But the most senior football man in that quad squad is Ashworth and given the lamentable record United have as a sporting institution over decades, the odds are against him. 

Given their dominance in English football it may seem harsh to describe Manchester United as a personality cult masquerading as a football club. And yet, only three men have won the league title with United: Ernest Magnell (1908 and 1911), Sir Matt Busby (1952, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1967) and Sir Alex Ferguson (13 times). By contrast Manchester City have had three title-winning coaches (Mancini, Pellegrini, Guardiola) in the last 12 years and Chelsea have had three (Mourinho, Ancelotti, Conte) since 2006 as well as two Champions League winning coaches (Di Matteo and Tuchel).