Ruben Amorim’s farewell party at Sporting CP has inadvertently gone better than any Manchester United fan could have expected, their 4-1 defeat of Manchester City in the Champions League doing plenty to build excitement ahead of his arrival next week.

The Old Trafford faithful will be more than hopeful the Portuguese manager will be the one to lift the club from its stasis and challenge City et al. once more, having stumbled through the opening nine rounds of the season under the outgoing Erik ten Hag.

Amorim’s five trophies in under five years at Sporting include two Portuguese league titles (2020/21 & 23/24); the full-scale ‘Obrigado’ tifo held up in the stands of the Estådio José Alvalade prior to their win over City a glowing testament to his time at the club.

‘Amorim has been one of the real up-and-coming coaches of European football for a couple of years now, he’s only 39 so is young and hungry, and been successful at Sporting. Now the big job is his and when he arrives through the doors on November 11, he’s certainly got a lot to grapple with’, BBC chief football writer Phil McNulty told Box2Box.

‘He’d been coveted by other clubs; I know West Ham were thinking seriously about him, and I think Liverpool and Spurs were as well. United have decided to push the button on this one, and are placing a lot of faith in him.

‘As we’ve seen in the last years, really, it’s a very big job to turn Manchester United around after years of mismanagement.’

United’s litany of managerial disappoinements post-Sir Alex Ferguson is well known, and despite a promising start and a trophy in each of his completed seasons, ten Hag now joins the list. Injuries proved some excuse, poor recruitment did not, and while he managed a stay of execution as new owners took charge he never fully seemed to earn their faith.

‘That was the dysfunction really, they’d wanted to move him on in the summer but couldn’t find a suitable alternative. They spoke to Thomas Tuchel, but that didn’t come to anything’, said McNulty.

‘Once the season had started, when you reluctantly place faith in a manager, they’re almost always one bad loss from a crisis, and unfortunately for ten Hag that happened on a couple of occasions.

‘They lost heavily at home to Liverpool, then to Spurs, and I must admit after that game I thought he’d go. They gave him a bit longer, but clearly they’d been working away in the background and it was a very quick end for ten Hag – even though his last defeat at West Ham was narrow and based on a late, controversial penalty.’

United have two further matches under interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy before Amorim takes over during the international break, being Thursday’s Europa League visit of PAOK and Sunday’s League meeting with Leicester.

van Nistelrooy’s substitute-teacher energy has brought a degree of nostalgia and levity to the touchline at Old Trafford, but those in the stands remain well aware that yet another major rebuild, and era that begins with many questions, is about to commence.

‘Obviously they love it to be attractive football at United, but if they can just get back to winning football, that would be a good starting point. They need to get back to being a team again, and a winning team as well.’