Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim is preparing for his first game in charge of the Red Devils this weekend.
After Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s very successful spell as interim manager at Manchester United, Ruben Amorim is set to take charge of the Red Devils against Ipswich Town.
Amorim’s first five games in charge at United are by no means easy but playing a side promoted to the Premier League this season could be a smoother debut for the Portuguese.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired from Old Trafford back in 2013, there have been five permanent managers of the club, not including Ralf Rangnick, who was the interim head coach for six months.
Here is how every other manager fared on their first Premier League game for the club…
Swansea City 1-4 Manchester United August 17th 2013 – David Moyes
After Ferguson’s retirement, there was a lot of intrigue about how the Scottish manager would follow in the footsteps of the Godfather of English football.
It was a 4-1 victory for David Moyes with two goals from Robin Van Persie and Danny Welbeck handing Moyes’ side a comfortable victory.
It looked to be all rosy in the garden for Moyes but it transpired to be a tumultuous time for the former Everton manager.
Man United 1-2 Swansea City August 16th 2014 – Louis Van Gaal
Ironically another manager’s opening salvo for the Red Devils proved to be against Swansea but it was a defeat against the Jacks for Louis Van Gaal.
There was palpable excitement when the Dutchman was confirmed as manager of the club after he guided Holland to a third-place finish at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Ki Sung-Yeung had given Swansea the lead before an overhead kick from Wayne Rooney levelled the score. Gylfi Sigurdsson scored the decisive second-half goal to inflict a defeat for Van Gaal.
Bournemouth 1-3 Manchester United August 14th 2016 – Jose Mourinho
It was a 3-1 win away from home in Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge of the Red Devils. This was perhaps the most exciting summer as a United fan.
Mourinho had brought in Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, and United kicked off their new reign under the Portuguese with a convincing win.
Juan Mata, Rooney and Ibrahimovic scored for United and they would go on to win their opening three games under the Portuguese manager, something Amorim will want to replicate.
Cardiff City 1-5 Manchester United December 22nd 2018 – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Despite originally beginning his stint as United manager as interim, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would pull off an extraordinary interim run at Old Trafford with the Red Devils winning 5-1 in the Norwegian’s first game.
After the toxic end of Mourinho’s reign at the club, Solskjaer brought some much-needed positivity with a dominant victory in South Wales a great way to kick off.
Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial netted for the Red Devils and it was a fruitful first few months for Solskjaer.
If we are counting when Solskjaer was first appointed as United’s permanent boss, it was a 2-1 win against Watford in the Premier League.
Man United 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion August 7th 2022 – Erik ten Hag
The most recent managerial debut in the Premier League was of course Erik ten Hag but it was an unconvincing start to life for the Dutchman.
Like the previous Dutchman in charge Van Gaal, United suffered a 2-1 home defeat. Pascal Gross scored twice for Brighton before an own goal late on gave the Red Devils some hope.
Following this defeat to Brighton, United suffered a 4-0 defeat to Brentford and the pressure was ramped up on Ten Hag but he weathered that storm.
Amorim will be hoping for an easier start to life at the club with United playing Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich on Sunday the 24th of November.
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