Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jonathan Wilson

Rúben Amorim has the Ferguson aura but will the United job eat the rising star?

Rúben Amorim
Rúben Amorim has succeeded with an outsider club in Sporting and is ready for his chance in a wealthier, more glamorous league. Photograph: Patrícia de Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images

Forget the details, forget the noise. Forget the specifics. Imagine you run a big club on a losing streak. You are looking to appoint a new manager. What do you want, ideally? You want a young manager on the way up, someone fresh, with vision and drive and personality. Someone who could perhaps still be leading the club a decade later.

At the very highest level, most managerial careers are relatively short. The notion of a “proven winner” is a consoling but meaningless shorthand. There is no such thing; everything is fluid, everything is contingent; there is always a context; every career has an arc.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.