Amorim finds his voice in the ruins of a season

In the aftermath of Manchester United’s 2024-25 campaign, Ruben Amorim stepped onto the Old Trafford turf not to rally, but to repent. The final act of the season — a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa that bore all the consequence of a damp postscript — was followed by the kind of oration more suited to Sunday service than Sunday football.

“First of all I want to apologise for this season, we know you are really disappointed with the team,” said Amorim, microphone in hand, addressing the stadium with the solemnity of a man who has not merely lost games, but souls. United finished 15th. They lost a European final. They lost face. They lost time. The apology, for once, felt earned.

“If there is one club in the world… that can overcome any situation, it’s our club.”

Ruben Amorim ❤️ pic.twitter.com/zhrtVsPwfu

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) May 25, 2025

Apology laced with promise and paradox

Amorim, appointed in November amid a chorus of cautious optimism, stood in the centre-circle and offered a duality: sorrow for what had been, and hope for what might come. “Secondly, I want to say thank you. We are very grateful for your support during the season,” he added, acknowledging the Stretford End’s continued presence, if not their unmitigated patience.

It is the curious alchemy of this club that it can experience so much disaster, yet still talk of destiny. “Now we have to make a choice or we stay stuck in the past because this season is in the past, it’s over. We fight each other, or we stick together and move forward.”

That choice, it seems, is Amorim’s central creed: from storm, solidarity.

Storms foreseen, but not weathered

Back in December, with the giddy false dawn of a 4-0 win over Everton, Amorim warned that “the storm is coming”. The foresight was not the problem. What followed — six defeats in seven, tactical muddles, positional dissonance, and the occasional existential crisis — was the real issue.

“Today, after this disaster season, I want to tell you — the good days are coming,” Amorim offered, with the assuredness of a man who still believes there is poetry left in this project.

Man Utd identity remains elusive

If this season taught us anything, it is that rebuilding Manchester United is not simply a matter of signing players, nor of issuing apologies. It is a philosophical crisis. A club forever caught between eras, between ideologies, between the past it romanticises and the future it never quite reaches.

In a moment of poignant candour, Amorim turned inward: “Now I want to say sorry also to my players, sometimes I was not fair but I always want to be honest with you guys.”

It was not tactical nous that defined his speech. It was humility. United may have finished with goals from Amad and Eriksen, but their future, if it is to be bright, will be built on something rarer: honesty.