Rio Ferdinand has highlighted comments from three former Manchester United managers about the club's problems, arguing the man in the dugout is not the issue. The Red Devils lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, extending their winless run to eight games. With just one victory in eight league matches this season, manager Michael Carrick is under intense pressure and is expected to lose his job.
Ferdinand recalls former managers' warnings
Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, the former United defender said results speak for themselves, pointing to the club's ownership and sporting leadership. He recalled comments from Ruben Amorim, Ralf Rangnick and Jose Mourinho, all of whom suggested deeper issues at the club than just who picks the team.
Ferdinand said: 'I think results speak for themselves, INEOS and the ownership of the club, management, we're back to where we were before Michael Carrick came to the club, in disarray.' He added: 'Look at when Amorim was here, he said one thing that feels very relevant today, that next year we'll be here at the same stage with the same problems.'
Quotes from Amorim, Rangnick and Mourinho
Amorim said in November 2024, shortly after arriving as United boss: 'We have two ways: we forget about the new idea – and I think that's why I was brought here in the middle of the season – and we try to cope with what they are used to doing. And next year, at the same stage, we will be here with the same problems. Or we start now, we risk a little bit, we suffer a little bit and next year we will be better at this point. So we have to risk it a little bit.'
Rangnick said in April 2022: 'You don't even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are. Now it's about how do we solve them? It's not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart. If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn't take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year.'
Mourinho said in 2019 of his 2017/18 season in charge, when United finished second in the Premier League: 'If I tell you, for example, that I consider one of the best jobs of my career was to finish second with Man United in the Premier League, you will say, "this guy is crazy. He won 25 titles and he is saying that a second position was one of his best achievements?" I keep saying this because people don't know what is going on behind the scenes. And sometimes we, in this side of the cameras, analyse things with a different perspective.'
Ferdinand questions whether change has happened
Ferdinand said: 'Jose Mourinho said it was the best result in a season he's ever had, when he won a couple of trophies and everyone thought he was mad when he said that. He said there was more going on behind the scenes than meets the eye. Three guys there who've been in that hotseat, they can't all be wrong.'
He added: 'Has open heart surgery happened at Man Utd? That's an alarming comment to make. Has it happened? Of course it hasn't.'
