Ruben Amorim's first month in charge of Manchester United will have been an eye-opening experience, believes Alan Shearer.
The Portuguese is making his first foray into English football, and he has landed one of the biggest and toughest jobs in the business. United head into Sunday's derby 13th in the table and closer to relegation than they are the top-four.
Behind the scenes, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has parted company with Dan Ashworth after only five months, made a wave of redundancies and hiked up ticket prices. Furthermore, manager Erik ten Hag was backed with more expensive signings during the summer, only for him to be sacked in October.
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Amorim, having come from a high-functioning Sporting team to a dysfunctional United set-up, has not had things easy.
"The most important thing is results on the pitch and that isn’t getting any better anytime soon," Shearer told The Daily Mail. "Because Ruben Amorim must have walked in and thought 'there's been £600million spent on this squad and this is what I’ve got, this is the best [Ratcliffe] can offer me?'.
"So yeah, it’ll take time for him to get it right no doubt and I’m sure his eyes have been opened wide since he walked in there."
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Shearer, who holds the all-time Premier League goals record with 260, was also fiercely critical of Ratcliffe for failing to bring stability to Old Trafford after nearly two decades of the Glazers' wildly unpopular rule.
"It looks as if it's gone from a really bad situation to everyone thinking 'Ratcliffe is in there now [everything will be fine]'," continued the former Newcastle United man.
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"But ever since he walked in the door, whether it be putting ticket prices up, giving Erik ten Hag a new deal or giving him millions to spend on players and then sacking him and giving him compensation. Or whether it be paying £3m for Dan Ashworth after waiting for him on gardening leave [and then sacking him], it seems as if it has gone from one bad stage to another."
Amorim is entering his most-important period since taking charge, with Sunday's clash at the Etihad Stadium followed by a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Tottenham.
And United's recent performances have not exactly inspired confidence, with Thursday's win at Viktoria Plzen coming via a late second-half comeback.
