TIM HOWARD: Why United's move for Amorim feels like the failed return of CR7

If you didn’t know any better, if you didn’t know that INEOS is running the football side of Manchester United, you’d be forgiven for thinking nothing has changed over the last decade. This club is still being run by Ed Woodward and the Glazers. It’s business as usual.

Because the decision to fire Erik ten Hag now makes no sense. What baffles me the most? We are precisely where we were last season.

Yes, United won the FA Cup – and that does matter – but look at the bigger picture. The performances were terrible and so were the results.

INEOS did a review in the summer and their conclusion was: Ten Hag is the right man for the job. But not only that, we will back him financially too. Now United have had a horrific start to the season and he’s gone.

But what have they learned? If INEOS had a checklist – listing all the reasons Ten Hag has been sacked – it would look exactly the same as it did in June. Familiar issues remain around United’s style of play, the quality of their signings and their results.

All that’s changed? We are six months further down the line – with another transfer window gone and yet more money down the drain. Oh, and Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino – two managers linked with United over the summer – have taken other jobs.

Now Ruben Amorim is in talks to take over. But he was highly thought of in the summer, too. He hasn’t become a good coach in the last few months. And that’s what concerns me. This feels like the decision to re-sign Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021.

Don’t forget, it looked like Ronaldo was going to Manchester City and so United decided to jump in at the 11th hour. It wasn’t part of their plan. It was a knee-jerk reaction and it backfired.

I wonder if that is what has driven this decision to fire Ten Hag. It’s not long since City were linked with Amorim as a possible replacement for Pep Guardiola. Has that forced United’s hand? It would be a lazy way to run a club.

But the last 10 years tells us one thing: United don’t know what manager they want. Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, they have hired David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick and then Ten Hag.

They have tried serial winners, they have tried coaches with ties to the club and those with a track record in the Premier League. None worked. So now United are turning to one of the most exciting young coaches in Europe.

They are not alone – bright, tactically-astute minds such as Xabi Alonso are now increasingly sought-after. With good reason, too. Look at the job Enzo Maresca is doing at Chelsea and the impact Fabien Hurzeler has made at Brighton. So I’m not opposed to Amorim because there is some naivety in youth.

Manchester United has swallowed managers whole - good, experienced managers. So why not hire a younger coach who isn’t haunted by ghosts of the past?

Amorim has had success at Sporting and he has very clear ideas about the way he wants to play. Then again, we said the same about Ten Hag after what he had achieved at Ajax. So is the manager really the issue at United?

I have been a player, a sporting director and I’m now an owner with Houston Dynamo. I know that some managers are hamstrung by what goes on around them - they are given no backing in the transfer market and no say in who they sign, for instance.

No one can dispute that United have been a dysfunctional operation over the past decade. But the truth is: Ten Hag has been given money and a big role in deciding signings.

Just look at the number of ex-Ajax players United have bought: Anthony, Lisandro Martinez, Matthijs de Ligt… the list goes on. And yet he wasn’t getting a tune out of this squad.

That is a manager’s primary job: ensure the team is performing at a high level and getting results. He failed on both counts. So why would United keep a manager who had been underperforming for so long?

I like what Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS have put in place behind the scenes – I like the appointments of Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Omar Berrada as CEO.

Maybe they decided that only so much could change straight away. Maybe this was a calculated risk: Ten Hag won’t be our manager long term but perhaps we can get away with keeping him while we fix everything else.

Unfortunately, that brings other problems. Because, as long as you have a manager, you have to keep buying them players to make an impact. And these days, clubs are bound by Profitability and Sustainability Rules.

They can’t keep spending forever. So now United has a squad full of players who are not good enough to win the Premier League or Champions League. Players Amorim won’t want.