Man Utd should embrace mediocrity to enable rebirth

While Ruben Amorim was talking about staying but staring at the floor, Luke Shaw looked like he was going to let it all out. The left-back, who was inadvertently responsible for the Europa League final’s decisive own goal, seemed on the brink of tears.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe was understood to be “heartbroken”. There was a “numbness” inside Manchester United.

After all the talk of what the Europa League meant to the club financially, you could now see the true emotional cost. United figures felt humiliated, fully aware this was going to be a fall-out like no other in football.

Amorim, for his part, didn’t want to do the supporters the disservice of defending the season; of going through the motions of insisting it will be better. “It's not my style, I cannot do it,” the United manager said. “In this moment, it is a little bit of faith.”

Except, amid all this emotion, any decisions may well come down to finance. Or, at least, numbers. Shaw did offer a stirring defence of Amorim. “Ruben is 100 per cent the right person,” he said. “I think he knows what he needs to change.”

And, in normal circumstances, allowing full scope for this might well be the prudent course. In normal circumstances, it’s possible the best thing United could do would be to double down and give this manager as much time and space as he needs. Amorim’s record illustrates that he is clearly a bright coach. He can excel in the right circumstances.

It’s just that everything has now gone wrong. A dismal season has bottomed out. It has ended in a final defeat that greatly damages the club’s medium-term future. A lack of European football is so damaging to their financial situation that they will have to profoundly rethink their strategy.

Insiders talk of how “the deficit is not closing”. Even Amorim elaborated on “two plans for the market”. Some football industry figures were wondering whether United would even go through with the Matheus Cunha deal. A £60m-plus deal for such a player is now a huge gamble.