Sir Alex Ferguson told Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim to ‘keep positive’ after a 3-1 loss against Brighton – though his guidance has sometimes been ineffective.
With a home loss against the Seagulls, Amorim has led his team to just six wins from 14 games at the helm. They sit 13th in the league, and a change in leadership hasn’t yet had its desired effect.
The Red Devils are a far cry from the outfit that once dominated English football under Ferguson. The legendary Scot was in attendance on Sunday at Old Trafford, as he often is, and was seen having a conversation with the club’s current manager during pre-match tributes to late United icon Denis Law, who sadly passed away last week aged 84.
After the disappointing clash, Amorim revealed the telling two-word message Ferguson sent his way. But the 83-year-old’s counsel has sometimes backfired, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer found out in 2021.
“Keep positive,” was the directive Ferguson told the Portuguese, as relayed by Amorim to BBC Radio 5 Live. The Scotsman himself hasn’t been vocal on the slump, however, perhaps due to him being axed from a multi-million-pound ambassadorial role at Old Trafford in October as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s radical cost-cutting.
Yet, Ferguson’s advice to managers who have tried and failed to fill his boots hasn’t always been positively influential, and an incident involving one of his former players, ex-United boss Solskjaer, and Cristiano Ronaldo was indicative of this.
Back in 2021, with Ronaldo having just made a stunning Manchester return and Solskjaer at the helm, United faced Everton at home when enduring a poor run of form.
The iconic Portuguese marksman was benched by his manager – something Ferguson evidently disagreed with, as he offered a warning. Filmed on a video posted to UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Instagram account, Ferguson stated that “you should always start with your best players” and that the Toffees would have been boosted “when they saw Ronaldo wasn’t playing”.
The match ended 1-1, and Ronaldo could be seen storming down the tunnel after the final whistle, having only entered the fray on 57 minutes. This then left Solskjaer to defend his decisions during his post-match press conference, with Ferguson’s advice-turned-criticism putting him in a sticky situation.
“You make decisions throughout a long, long season,” Solskjaer stated. “You have got to manage the players’ workload, and that was… the decision was, for me, the correct one.”
A month later, Solskjaer was relieved from his duties. He later reflected on the conundrum Ronaldo left him in, and Ferguson’s guidance came to be ill-advised – adding to the idea that since he stepped down from the reins at United, the 83-year-old’s influence has not been all helpful.
Now, as he steps in to give suggestions to Amorim privately, only time will tell whether it pays off. However, something is evidently needed among the Red Devils’ ranks, with their manager making a stark but honest admission that his squad is ‘the worst’ the club has ever seen.
“In [the past] 10 games in Premier League, we won two,” Amorim admitted during his post-match press conference. “Imagine what this is for a fan of Manchester United. Imagine what this is for me.
“We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach. I have full knowledge of that. We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.