Amorim is past the point of no return at MU – all the signs suggest he is done

RUBEN AMORIM was back at Manchester United’s Carrington training base on Sunday morning with his children for a pre-planned family day.

Players’ kids ran around the pristine pitches. Casemiro’s wife, Ana, documented the blossoming friendship between her son, Caio, and Bruno Fernandes and Matheus Cunha’s children on her Instagram account.

Even after two ruthless rounds of redundancies and a marked change of identity, United continue to present themselves as a “family club”.

Cancelling the event would have been insincere.

The gathering coincided with United’s recovery session after the defeat at Brentford. The squad then had a couple of days off and trained normally on Wednesday.

Bryan Mbeumo was interviewed by one of the Premier League’s rights holders in a scheduled interview on Wednesday. Other than that, the United squad has maintained Omerta in defeat.

None of the United players dared upload a post on to their social media platforms on Sunday.

Those who frequent the villages in the Golden Triangle in Cheshire, favoured by north west footballers, have been struck by the low profile United’s players have kept this week.

The talk of the town has been Amorim’s future. A former United executive who is still prominent at games has spoken openly about the reputed November 11 cut-off that would entitle Amorim to a lower compensation package.

Europe’s raucous Ryder Cup victory detracted from some of the focus on Amorim at the start of the week.

More relevantly, the status quo from the United hierarchy has not changed. Amorim retains the backing of the United board and will do so until he is sacked.

There is no longer a credible argument to keep Amorim.

He passed the point of no return in the League Cup humiliation at fourth-tier Grimsby Town.

United have since lost to teams in a state of flux.

Manchester City had lost their previous two games before they turned United over 3-0 last month.

Brentford saw their three best players and greatest manager leave in the summer. They beat United as convincingly as they did under Thomas Frank.

Bournemouth were pillaged by Liverpool, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, who each took a member of their back four. Yet Bournemouth are in the top six.

Crystal Palace lost Eberechi Eze and their Europa League place. They are second and unbeaten. And they use the same 3-4-2-1 system Amorim is wedded to.

Those of us on the United patch are veterans of manager sackings now. We have a good gauge when the manager is done and all the signs suggest Amorim is.

United have spent more than £250million on six players on Amorim’s watch and they are getting worse.

He has had nearly 11 months, he has uprooted bad apples, he has had a harmonious pre-season and the apparent advantage of free midweeks.

United have already turned that into a disadvantage.

When Amorim re-emerged to conduct his post-match media duties at Grimsby five weeks ago, he looked remarkably well, relaxed even.

He did not conceal his anger at the players but he was breezy for a man who had just endured his biggest professional humiliation.

They say managers ease up when they know their time is up.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe flew to New York in midweek. Rumours swirled on Tuesday night that there could be a puff of white smoke from Old Trafford.

So far, it is just hot air.

United denied that Amorim was summoned for talks on Saturday evening.

New York would be a logical rendezvous location for Ratcliffe and Tampa-based Joel Glazer, the co-owners who would sanction a change of manager. Some United staff were unaware Ratcliffe was in New York.

Ratcliffe flew back to London, the scene of a high-profile meeting of United’s executives with Erik ten Hag’s future up in the air last October.

Like that international break last year, there is intense scrutiny on the current United manager. Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Jason Wilcox and the sporting director Dan Ashworth were all in attendance for United’s goalless draw at Villa Park a year ago.

The Ineos cabal sat together like jurors who had reached a verdict.

They spent the international fortnight formulating a plan to sack Ten Hag.

When United next lost away at West Ham, Ten Hag was literally sacked in the morning.

If United’s football administrators are worth their salt, they will be drafting up plans for when Amorim is driven out of Carrington for the final time.

Club sources have stressed no replacement is lined up.

In one corner of the Golden Triangle in Alderley Edge, a former United manager is back in town: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

There was fleeting consideration given to reappointing Solskjaer on a temporary basis last year if Amorim was unattainable.

Solskjaer left United through the front door in November 2021, conducting a tearful exit interview with MUTV.

His one job since his departure was at Besiktas and he lasted seven months.

The United legend left with the team seventh in the Premier League table four years ago. They are seven places lower now.