Former Manchester United star Nani claims the disciplinary issues at the club under Ruben Amorim would never have happened when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge at Old Trafford.
Amorim offloaded Alejandro Garnacho to Chelsea for £40million after the Argentina international and his brother Roberto publicly criticised him.
Last week, Amorim took aim at United’s young players over a sense of entitlement after pictures emerged on social media of Kobbie Mainoo’s half-brother Jordan Mainoo-Hames, Chido Obi and Harry Amass having a dig at him.
Nani insists that Ferguson, who was fiercely opposed to social media, would never have put up with such insubordination.
‘No way, not a chance,’ said the ex-Portugal winger who made 230 appearances for the Reds. ‘If someone needed it, he would put a player to one side for a game, and usually they would learn straight away. If you were in trouble for any kind of bad behaviour, you would only play again when you changed.
‘You need to accept the rules and then you need to follow the rules. For us in that time, that was the key. Nobody was bigger than the club. No player, not Ronaldo, not Rooney, not Giggs, nobody. If you’re behaviour wasn’t good enough, you were punished.
Ruben Amorim last week criticised a sense of entitlement from Man United’s young players
His comments came after Kobbie Mainoo’s half-brother Jordan Mainoo-Hames stoked tensions by wearing a ‘Free Kobbie Mainoo’ T-shirt during Man United’s draw with Bournemouth
Youngsters Harry Amass (left) and Chido Obi (right) sent subtle responses to Amorim’s comments, sparking the boss’ ‘entitlement’ remark
‘It actually happened to me during one of my first weeks. I played one fantastic game and then I went several weeks without playing. I was complaining, talking with Cristiano, saying “hey, I don’t know why I’m not playing”. I knew there was something behind the scenes they wanted me to fix, and then when I found out what it was, I addressed it, worked hard. These players need something similar; discipline and rules.’
Speaking via online casino experts casino.co.uk, Nani also believes that the senior players in Ferguson’s dressing-room would also have stepped in.
‘Yes, a conversation would take place inside the dressing-room because I think all of the team was mature enough. We had very responsible players like Rio, Gary Neville, Giggs; the older players would step in and they would fix it.
‘It would usually be the small things, but sometimes when the player was not giving his maximum during the training sessions or in games, some of those players I just mentioned would be calling them and say, “hey, come on man, you need to do better”. It was a good mind-set and mentality. It all fed down from the manager.
‘I think the first thing is the mind-set in the squad, because when you have the right mind-set any other things can work.’
Despite the problems Amorim has faced during his first 13 months in charge, Nani is convinced his Portuguese compatriot is the right man for the job.
‘I’ve said this before. He is young, he has the hunger and always want to do better,’ added the 39-year-old who retired from playing a year ago.
‘He’s got a huge future in front of him and has shown already that he is a good coach. He has his ideas and sticks to them. He just needs to continue to learn because the Premier League is different than other leagues.
Former Man United star Nani has claimed Sir Alex Ferguson would not have put up with such insubordination
Nani is backing Amorim to succeed at Man United and praised the impact of signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo
‘It’s tougher than any other league, especially for people going into it for the first time. We’ve already seen a big improvement from the last season to this season, and I believe the next season we’ll see another jump forward.’
Nani is impressed by some of the signings Amorim has made, in particular Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha who arrived from Brentford and Wolves in the summer.
‘I think they are two players who made the difference since they came,’ he said. ‘They’ve been showing good signs, and they’ve improved. They’ve been getting comfortable with the team, and taking responsibility.
‘Both players are making differences in games and scoring goals. I also like that they fight for the team on the field. These are the type of players we want in the club.
‘The coach is building a strong team, which takes time, but we can see a very beautiful future with this, with these two players at the front of it.’
