Days after Ruben Amorim’s departure from Manchester United, Rui Faria came out of the shadows to leave two criticisms of the way modern “big clubs” are managed, through a post on social media.
Faria, who was José Mourinho’s right-hand man for almost two decades, including his time at Old Trafford between 2016 and 2018, published a graphic on Instagram titled Mind Pieces (Pieces of the Mind), as I had done previously, but this time the message seems to be about the red devils.
The text is superimposed over a background image of a coach in a Man. United tracksuit clearly visible. The publication can be interpreted as a criticism of the club’s hierarchy.
Faria, remember, was in red devils a period that was also turbulent, marked by public disputes over transfer targets, “football heritage” and the eventual combustion of the coach’s relationship with management. The manager, without a club since 2019/20, seems to suggest that nothing has changed at Old Trafford, regardless of the head coach.
“The philosophy of a big club used to be about winning trophies. Coaches were hired for their winning streaks in order to achieve the club’s goals. Today, coaches are often hired based on their willingness to accept the club’s business plan. Coaches are led to believe that they are in charge of a sporting project in which they can manage their own decisions, influencing different departments to achieve sporting success», it can be read.
“The club’s business plan, however, is essentially about numbers — with each department set up to achieve its own objectives, contesting any decision by the coach that might undermine its goals — regardless of results on the field. A winning football team is more than the sum of its departmental parts and setting department-by-department objectives often comes at the cost of losing points and trophies won. However, the coach continues to be the face of an unsuccessful project — even when his power is reduced to almost nothing!», wrote Rui Faria.
