Ruben Amorim has handed a daunting seven-part to-do list if he’s to become a success at Manchester United under Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS’ ruthless rule. Former United assistant Rene Meulensteen has ruled out any of the club’s managers getting close to recreating Sir Alex Ferguson’s empire at Old Trafford.
However, the Dutchman has sent Amorim seven demands to put him on the right path to avoid becoming the latest failed successor.
Meulensteen worked closely with Ferguson for six years of his trophy-laden reign as United boss and has been outspoken about the club’s startling decline since the legendary Scot’s 2013 retirement.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag – while lifting the occasional trophy – have struggled to rediscover the heights of Ferguson’s tenure.
Amorim became the latest coach to inherit the mammoth task in November and has endured a nightmare start, losing six of his first 11 matches in charge.
The Portuguese tactician was thrown in the deep end, attempting to instil a drastically changed philosophy into low-confidence players with games to navigate past every few days.
But he insists he will persist with the identity that helped him turn Sporting into Portugal’s dominant force, and Meulensteen agrees that that should be his priority.
“First of all, he needs to rebuild or re-establish a really strong culture and an identity, a playing identity on the pitch that people can resonate with,” Meulensteen told Express Sport with Instant Casino.
The 60-year-old tabled a further six demands to Amorim, all of which ultimately revolved around returning to the summit of English and European football.
He added: “I really do think that nobody ever will come close to replicating Sir Alex Ferguson and what he’s done.
“But what you just want is to bring Man United back into a successful period, which means consistency, challenging for Premier League titles again and doing really well in the Champions League.
“Playing an attractive and attacking style of football, which is the hardest combination to get, and successfully bringing through young players.
“Because United have got a lot of young players obviously waiting in the wings, and I want to see how they can implement that.
“But that is also difficult, like I said because the demands of the Premier League are so high. But that’s it. Basically, he needs to just start winning games and start challenging for titles again.
“And I think the only way to get close to or be linked with Sir Alex Ferguson is winning the Premier League again.
“And then you have to stay up there, do it again, just not winning it once, and then falling back again. But you have to, and we all know how hard it is.”