- 9 hours ago
From Ferguson to Ruben Amorim: How every Man Utd manager did on their debut
Ruben Amorim is set to make his debut as Man Utd head coach this Sunday.
Man Utd take on Ipswich at Portman Road in a 16:30 kick-off on Sunday 24 November, 2024. This will be the first game of the Ruben Amorim era.
It's important to get off to a good start in a new job, and being a football manager (or head coach, these days) is no different.
While nothing is ever set in stone if your debut goes poorly, Pep Guardiola's La Liga debut with Barcelona ended in a 1-0 defeat and he changed the sporting world with that team, getting an early win brings fans and media onside.
READ MORE: Five Players To Watch For Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd debut
For Man Utd, the biggest club in the country and one of the three biggest clubs across the whole world, the media scrutiny is beyond intense.
This is especially so when you've struggled, as Man Utd have this season. The Red Devils currently sit 13th in the Premier League table, a massive 13 points behind league-leaders Liverpool.
They haven't won the Premier League in the 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Meanwhile they've had to watch hated rivals Liverpool and Man City duke it out for the top prize.
But all the negative vibes around the club can be dispelled with a great debut display. A good start can be huge, but is it impactful? How did the post-Ferguson managers do on their debut? And, in fact, how did the great man himself do back in 1986? Let's have a look.
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Match: Man Utd 5-2 Leicester City
Date: 30 October, 2024
Leicester got a Ruud awakening in the Carabao Cup as the handsome Dutchman got his caretaker spell off to a hot start.
Erik ten Hag
Match: Man Utd 1-2 Brighton
Date: 7 August, 2022
In hindsight, the risible loss to Brighton was a portent of doom for Ten Hag.
Ralf Rangnick
Match: Man Utd 1-0 Crystal Palace
Date: 5 December, 2021
Remember Ralf Rangnick? Yeah. What a weird time.
READ MORE: Fabrizio Romano CONFIRMS Man Utd's transfer plans
Michael Carrick
Match: Villarreal 0-2 Man Utd
Date: 23 November, 2021
Michael Carrick (and Kieran McKenna) looked a solid pairing and worked up this impressive Champions League away win. Carrick also masterminded a win over Arsenal! Probably should have kept him instead of getting Rangnick.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Match: Cardiff City 1-5 Man Utd
Date: 18 December, 2018
It's impossible to put into words the sense of euphoria that radiated out of Cardiff on this day as Manchester United woke from the long night of Jose Mourinho and emerged into one of the brightest false dawns in football history.
Jose Mourinho
Match: Leicester City 1-2 Man Utd
Date: 7 August, 2016
Soon we will re-evaluate Jose Mourinho's time at Old Trafford into two periods: one where Zlatan Ibrahimovic played and the team was good, and another where Zlatan Ibrahimovic did not play and the team was bad.
Zlatan played against Leicester. And the team was good.
Louis van Gaal
Match: Man Utd 1-2 Swansea
Date: 16 August, 2014
After his World Cup party with the Netherlands this was like the farting sound a baloon makes as you let the air out of it.
Ryan Giggs
Match: Man Utd 4-0 Norwich
Date: 26 April, 2014
"Give it Giggseh til the end of the season" is one of football's first great social media memes and, against Norwich at least, Ryan Giggs looked the part. Though how much of this was his own skill and how much was the fact that he just wasn't David Moyes is open to interpretation.
READ MORE: Lewandowski tells Amorim how to fix MAJOR Man Utd problem
David Moyes
Match: Man Utd 2-0 Wigan
Date: 11 August, 2013
A nice Robin van Persie brace disguised how bad Man Utd were against vastly inferior opposition. Kind of like how David Moyes' Glaswegian accent disguised how bad of a fit he was to be Man Utd first manager after Sir Alex Ferguson.
Sir Alex Ferguson
Match: Oxford United 2-0 Man Utd
Date: 8 November, 1986
Ruben need not worry if his debut goes poorly because quite possibly the greatest manager to ever do it got comfortably beaten away at Oxford on his!
