“Without a doubt…”: Amorim’s right hand man at United reveals what went wrong during tumultuous 14-month reign

Sunday’s victory over Crystal Palace was Manchester United’s sixth win out of seven games since Michael Carrick stepped in. The Red Devils are now third in the Premier League table, a feat not many fans saw coming after the dark days of the Ruben Amorim era. The previous head coach always kept harping on the need to suffer, and indicated that the squad was not strong enough to qualify for the Champions League. During a tumultuous 14-month reign, the Portuguese tactician won a mere 16 league games. An absolutely abhorrent record. Dark days of the Amorim era Thankfully, Carrick has come in and remedied all that, while playing players in their natural positions and helping them recover their shattered confidence. Amorim’s right-hand man at United, Adelio Candido, reflected on his time at United during an interview with A Bola. The assistant coach hinted that Amorim deserved more time to implement his radically different ideas, which INEOS did not provide. “Experience is always experience, whether the outcome is good or bad, we always come away with learning. Adelio Candido opens up on what went wrong “In Manchester, I really liked the city and the way the fans experience football, more focused on the project than on the immediate result. What I liked least was, without a doubt, feeling that our ideas weren’t fully implemented.” Given the nature of the results, obviously the coaching team was under pressure, but Candido refuted such claims, explaining that the team never had time to read and react to social media vitriol. “I think the fact that we were young helped us deal with the pressure; we always had a positive daily routine at work. With the existing pressure, it’s normal for people to get more annoyed than usual in a technical team, and that wasn’t the case for us. “Honestly, I don’t follow opinions outside of my work group. Something always ends up coming through social media, but I really don’t pay any attention to any of that.” His words don’t reflect the reality Adelio Candido also revealed that he is yet to ascertain whether leaving was the right decision or not. He is currently without a job, but is keeping busy by spending time with his family. “Only the future will tell if leaving was bad for our careers or not. Right now I’m enjoying my free time with my family without thinking too much about the future, but I know that when my phone rings, Ruben will talk to me.” The harsh truth is Amorim got more time than he deserved, and the coaching team as a whole were not up to the desired standards of a club like United. Carrick has already shown, in a limited time, what the team is capable of, and hopefully, he can continue in the same vein and guide the club back into the Champions League. Feature image Ben Roberts Photo via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Ayantan Chowdhury After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25