Success at Premier League powerhouses Manchester United, Bruno Fernandes argues, is not measured in points gained or goals scored.
While Ruben Amorim can still turn a pretty dreadful season around – going into this weekend Manchester United were only four points off third as Gary Neville talks up the Red Devils’ Champions League chances – the club captain insists that only one thing really matters at Old Trafford.
And that’s trophies.
No doubt Erik ten Hag would agree. The former Man United boss, sacked at the end of October to make way for Amorim, barely missed the opportunity to remind anyone who would listen that his record in England’s north west read two seasons and two pieces of silverware.
Though, having secured Man United’s worst-ever Premier League finish of eighth, there is an argument to be made that winning at Wembley is not enough alone to offset such a poor return in top-flight action.
Yet, Bruno Fernandes remains steadfast in his belief.
If Man United are to make their 2024/25 campaign a ‘success’, then defending the FA Cup, reclaiming the Carabao Cup, or triumphing in the revamped Europa League is the only way to go.
Bruno Fernandes wants silverware this season at Manchester United
“Success at this club is only [about] winning trophies,” Fernandes begins, speaking to Man United’s official website ahead of Sunday’s trip to Ipswich Town.
“We know we are four points away from top four but, if you don’t beat Ipswich, you are always going to look up and see clubs going away from you. So the focus of everyone has to be the next [game], which is Ipswich.
“And then the next one and the next one because we need to go step by step, not looking forward too much because we are not in a position to do that at the moment.”
Much has been made of Ruben Amorim’s remarkable penchant for turning decent players into great ones, his high-octane style of play and the way he transformed Sporting from a defensively well-drilled outfit into one of the most prolific scorers in European football.
But Amorim is a winner, too. A serial winner at that.
Including the two Primeira Liga titles he claimed in 2021 and 2023, Amorim has picked up six trophies in his last five years in the respective dugouts of Braga and Sporting CP.
Ruben Amorim and Bruno Fernandes hail Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna
The former Portugal international begins life in the Man United hotseat at Portman Road this weekend. Ruben Amorim was full of praise for Kieran McKenna pre-match too, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s old assistant preparing to take on his former club for the first time.
And Fernandes, who joined Man United from Sporting a few months before Amorim’s appointment in 2020, is looking forward to the challenge of facing a coach he knows very well indeed.
“[McKenna] is obviously someone I worked with when Ole was here,” Fernandes adds. “Really good staff, Kieran, Carrick and Ole.
“He is someone who knows the club really well, who is really smart at preparing games because he was always doing that during part of his work with Ole.
“We could see how he works, how he prepares, everything.”
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