Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United debut produced an underwhelming result with newly-promoted Ipswich Town earning a 1-1 draw on Sunday.
The Portuguese coach was left frustrated with his players and also suffered an awkward moment in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.
Music superstar Ed Sheeran gatecrashed the Portuguese coach’s time with Sky and the Ipswich fan was clearly chuffed with the result against United.
Amorim looked less than impressed with the incident but finished the interview, continuing to conduct himself in the impressive manner he has done since his arrival.
As reported by the BBC, Sheeran has since apologized to United’s new head coach in a social media post on Monday.
The musician, who is also a minority shareholder at Ipswich, posted a short statement on his Instagram feed to express his regret at the incident.
“Apologies if I offended Amorim yesterday, didn’t actually realize he was being interviewed at the time, was popping to say hi and bye to Jamie (Redknapp).”
Sheeran added that he was left a little embarrassed by the situation but added, “life goes on, great game though, congrats to all involved.”
It was a busy day all round for the Sky Sports team with Roy Keane involved in a heated exchange with an Ipswich supporter after the game at Portman Road.
Amorim will have no interest in dwelling on the matter as he prepares United for their next assignment under his tutelage.
In fact, the Portuguese coach is desperate for more time on the training field with his new players and commented on the amount of time he has spent in front of the camera since arriving in Manchester.
“This week I spoke more to the media than I did in four years at Sporting. I just want to work with my players. Nothing more,” he said.
Furthermore, The Mirror report that Amorim is set to make a special request to the United communications department to limit the time he must commit to interviews and media duties as he focuses on getting his ideas across to the players.
It will be interesting to see how United respond to this request with media commitments a huge part of the role for any United coach.
Sunday’s lacklustre display will only have served as a reminder to the Portuguese coach of the size of the task in front of him but he will be looking forward to making his home debut on Thursday in the Europa League.
United follow that up with the visit of Everton on Sunday before travelling to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal a week later, in what will be the first fixture against a ‘big six’ side for Amorim and his team.
Feature image Richard Pelham via Getty Images
Conner Botterill
Conner Botterill has been with The Peoples Person for two years. A keen match-going red with degrees in Sport and Journalism and Philosophy and Psychology, Conner still believes he has a chance of making United’s first team through his 5-a-side career.
