Nicky Butt has warned that it will take time for Ruben Amorim to deliver success at Manchester United, but believes he has what it takes.
The Portuguese coach was hired as Erik ten Hag’s permanent successor following a glittering spell at Sporting CP, winning two league titles and two cups in four years.
Amorim enjoyed a solid start to life in charge of the Red Devils, drawing 1-1 away at Ipswich before beating Bodo/Glimt and Everton at home.
However, in his first major test, Amorim watched his side go down 2-0 away at Arsenal on Wednesday, completely outclassed by the Gunners from start to finish.
And Butt believes supporters can expect more of this until Amorim is able to overhaul United’s squad — predicting another two years of struggle before a return to the top.
“There’s going to be a lot of pain,” the former Man Utd midfielder told talkSPORT.
“There’s going to be some pain coming, it’ll continue to come because he has to go and look at the players and he’s got to play them.
“So everyone will be going, ‘he’s not done anything for the last three seasons, why are you giving him a game?’ Because this new guy’s got to go in, he’s got to give the lads a chance, he’s got to see what he’s got.
“And then he can go to the board and say, ‘I don’t want that player, pay his contracts up, pay his contracts up, get that player for me, get that player for me’ and he can start building his own.
“And it’s going to be two seasons, it’s going to be two years.
“It’s going to be four transfer windows until we get where we need to be and challenging [at] the top of the table.”
Nicky Butt backs Ruben Amorim in Man Utd turnaround
That turnaround is not going to be an easy task.
United currently sit 13th in the Premier League table after 14 games, seven points adrift of the top four and only 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
However, Butt believes Amorim has the ‘character’ for the job and is already impressed with the way he handles the media in comparison to Ten Hag.
“I think what you’ve got to have at that football club is character,” said Butt.
“If you look at all the managers that come after Sir Alex [Ferguson], whether they’ve failed or not, they’re all people that can carry the club on their shoulders.
“[Louis] van Gaal, [Jose] Mourinho, they’re big personalities, big characters.
“Unfortunately for me, I didn’t think Ten Hag had that character. I thought he was not good in interviews, he wasn’t great on TV, he seemed like he knew what he was doing on a coaching pitch but he didn’t transfer [that] onto a game.
“And I think this guy now, Amorim, one thing I think he’s got is character.
“Time will tell if he’s got what he needs to get Man United back up to the levels [they want] with the investment that’s going to have to go into the squad.
“But he’s certainly got it. He’s got character, he’s got charisma and he looks like he can carry the club on his shoulders – and that’s the biggest thing at Man United. I don’t care what anybody says.
“Don’t forget these coaches, these managers go and get coaches as well so the ones underneath them have to be top coaches as well to coach the players. And he has his own people that he brought in.
“I think it was the right thing to do to get rid of [interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy] at the time as well because he’s [going to bring] his own players in, he’s going to have no excuses, he’s going to have no one looking over his shoulder, that’s not his person.
“He’s got his own guys there and if he does it right, I think he’ll do well.”
