{"id":399733,"date":"2026-01-08T12:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399733\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T12:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T12:42:11","slug":"the-club-is-in-a-mess-manchester-united-fans-voice-feelings-before-the-next-interim-twist-manchester-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399733\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The club is in a mess\u2019: Manchester United fans voice feelings before the next interim twist | Manchester United"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cJim can\u2019t fix this,\u201d the sign said. Bright red letters nestled on a white background, a stark contrast in an away end at Turf Moor<\/a> full of dark-coated figures in front of which they were held aloft. It was small, a couple of square metres of material, maybe. But the message to Sir Jim Ratcliffe was powerful. Remember your lane, Jim? Yeah, stick in it, pal.<\/p>\n

As Darren Fletcher, in Manchester United<\/a> blazer and red tie, strolled along the touchline, flanked by tracksuited his former teammate and friend Jonny Evans, the flag flew. And then it was gone. The protest was done.<\/p>\n

Within five minutes the full Manchester United songbook had been aired, the first rendition of turn-of-the-decade favourite \u201cYou are my Solskj\u00e6r\u201d coming early. Next arrived an old ditty about Michael Carrick, almost as if several thousand souls suddenly panicked that they would fall foul of election impartiality requirements. All candidates must get the same attention.<\/p>\n

It is seemingly between Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskj\u00e6r<\/a> to become United\u2019s next until-season\u2019s-end interim head coach, manager, chief second right lieutenant of the football squadron, or whatever one wishes to title it.<\/p>\n

Oh, and of the man currently in the dugout? \u201cDarren Fletcher, football genius\u201d was the natural next jukebox selection.<\/p>\n

And so, football\u2019s habit of kicking on faster than life itself was once again on full exhibition. Virtually the same set of folk spent Sunday serenading Ruben Amorim, their former head coach, manager, you get the gist.<\/p>\n

Among them was Simon, 25 years a season-ticket holder, and his young son, Thomas. \u201cAs United fans, we always support the manager, always have, always will, until they go,\u201d Simon said. \u201cI loved the freshness about [Amorim\u2019s] press conferences. He spoke in a way that was just different from other managers. Very honest.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut on results he had to go. The stubbornness reminded me of David Moyes. Moyes never had a plan B. It was the same thing \u2013 rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. It felt a little bit like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, with Amorim, as with Erik ten Hag before, it was a constant cycle of turning corners but meeting dead ends, of climbing ladders before sliding down snakes. Life stuck in a hellish Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? advert break, the answer locked in and the rest of us just waiting for Chris Tarrant to reappear and confirm that, no, the Dutchman\/Portuguese is not the right answer.<\/p>\n

Darren Fletcher and his (temporary) players. He was among those serenaded by Manchester United\u2019s fans at Burnley. Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n

Yet to the outside world it felt as if Amorim\u2019s insubordination, which culminated in his sack me or sack me rant after a 1-1 draw at Leeds<\/a> (if there is an employment barrister willing to argue the concept of constructive resignation exists in law, this case would surely be the one to test it with), rather than on-field matters, determined his fate.<\/p>\n

Mike is a Sir Alex Ferguson Stand regular. Including the days classified as \u201cleague match ticket book holder\u201d he has held an Old Trafford season\u2019s pass for 52 years. The \u201cconstant chopping and changing\u201d disheartens him \u2013 Fletcher is the 11th in post since Ferguson retired \u2013 but was torn on Amorim. \u201cIt had improved and the new players added to a more enjoyable watch. [Amorim] was charismatic, which I like. But he appeared intransigent at best and devoid of a plan at worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike applied similar sentiments to United as a whole. \u201cThe club is in a mess and the manager, coach, whatever word you want to use, is merely a piece of a jigsaw where we appear to have lost the box that shows us what the picture is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seemingly none of Ratcliffe, Jason Wilcox or Omar Berrada can find said container. Has anyone asked Fred the Red if it\u2019s in his costume box?<\/p>\n

The noise from United supporters in the Jimmy McIlroy Stand at Burnley faded after their team fell behind early. It had just burst back into life of its own accord when Benjamin Sesko levelled and, naturally, was loudest when the same forward put them ahead. Cue more historical favourites, followed by a little Fletcher fawning. Naturally, Burnley\u2019s equaliser negatively affected the volume.<\/p>\n

Not quite the audition Fletcher wanted, but he gets another chance on Sunday. In any case, Thomas wants Solskj\u00e6r back. \u201cAs an interim,\u201d Simon interjected, pointing out that the Norwegian\u2019s record when just keeping the wheel warm was excellent (14 wins, two draws, three defeats).<\/p>\n

Ah yes, the interim. Like Solskj\u00e6r once was, like Fletcher is, like Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ralf Rangnick, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick before them. For a club of such (former?) standing to have had more caretakers than Grange Hill is an odd look. Only Paul Scholes and Anderson to collect and all five midfielders in the 2011 Champions League final squad will have had the controls.<\/p>\n

So, it seems an interim is poised to follow an interim? Is nothing permanent in the world any more? But what then? Simon bristles at the suggestion the job is no longer attractive. \u201cRegardless of how tainted it may feel at the minute, if Manchester United come knocking on your door, you don\u2019t say no. That is still the pull that we have, as a global club \u2013 and I don\u2019t like using the term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is it all a bit embarrassing? Thomas gets no ribbing, gentle or otherwise, at school because his peers are in the same boat. \u201cAs the flag says: \u2018Hated, adored, never ignored,\u2019\u201d Mike concluded. \u201cIf we suddenly started winning leagues again, they\u2019d mock us for something else \u2013 where our fans come from, our leaking roof, the colour of our away kit.\u201d He makes a fair point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cJim can\u2019t fix this,\u201d the sign said. Bright red letters nestled on a white background, a stark contrast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-399733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}