This week, the Irish Post sat down with the Irish FA's former Coach Education Manager, Nigel Best, to discuss Manchester United's new head coach, Ruben Amorim. Amorim did his UEFA coaching badges in Northern Ireland in 2019, and we wanted to understand how that came to be.
Here is how it went:
Irish Post: So the first question is, could you give us a little bit of background on the Irish FA and its culture, so I can get an understanding of what they do?
Nigel Best: "Yes, the Irish FA are part of the UEFA Coaching Convention, which all the European National Associations have to be members of in order to be able to award UEFA qualifications, which in themselves are important for clubs that want to compete in international and UEFA competitions. So we have the full range of UEFA awards, from grassroots up to the UEFA Pro Licence, the whole coaching awards, and we have quite a lot of coaches coming in.
"In addition to our own local coaches, we offer places to coaches coming in from outside Northern Ireland, including the US, the UK, Scotland, and, obviously in this case, some Portuguese coaches have been over, as well as Spanish. So ensuring that we keep within UEFA guidelines, because you're only allowed a percentage of non-nationals on your courses. So that's just a brief background to it."
It's done.
Bem-vindo ao Manchester United, Ruben Amorim 🇵🇹🤝🔴#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 1, 2024
Irish Post: Tell us about your own journey to coaching, because I recently discovered that you retired, but you were head of coaching development—is that true? How did you get on?
Nigel Best: "Yeah, initially, my background was as a school teacher, but I got into football coaching as a consequence of an injury when I was a player. I got the opportunity to go into the Irish FA full-time, leading teaching, and at that stage, it was specifically developing what they called the Youth Development Programme, which was for boys aged 12 to 15 and four age groups. They had six full-time Pro Licence coaches. One of them was French, one was Swiss, and four were Northern Irish. They had assistants appointed to each of the counties, and each county had four age groups of 25 boys, so 100 for each county, which was 600 boys going through the system.
"In 2010, when the technical director left, I was asked to wait for a restructure of the coaching education programme as well as the elite youth. Eventually, when the new structure took place, I took control of the coach education program in 2011. That’s where I became fully involved in progressing coach education in the North."
Irish Post: That sounds like an unbelievable story. You spoke about non-nationals like Spanish, Swiss, and Portuguese. So obviously, why we're here is because of Ruben Amorim, who just got the United job and was part of your coaching setup at the Irish FA. Could you give me a little bit of background on how he came to Northern Ireland?
Nigel Best: "For whatever reason, there were a number of Portuguese coaches who were working at the Aspire Academy in Qatar. They started to apply to come. Amorim was one of those at that stage; he had briefly gone out there. So he came across and applied, along with a couple of other Portuguese coaches, to do the UEFA A and go on to do the UEFA Pro Licence. He was a very good coach at that stage with excellent English," added Best.
"I had contact from the Portuguese FA asking if they could allow him to go under their Pro Licence because he had obviously been offered the management job at Braga. He then was eagerly sought after by Sporting, and they had a transfer agreement with him, and he has been incredibly successful. I watched last night, and I think his win rate is over 70%, which is incredibly good for a manager."
"He's got that aura about him, not arrogance but a good aura." 💫
Paul Merson 🤝Ruben Amorim pic.twitter.com/p3jW60ECU5
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 6, 2024
Irish Post: Was he a bit of a star to people, or was he a bit of a rough diamond at that time?
Nigel Best: "Well, he had been coaching, but obviously worked with younger age groups at that stage. His background before he went into senior club level was in youth coaching. But the things that stood out about him—first of all, he is a good communicator. When he arrived, his English was good, even though we had to adapt to the Northern Irish accent and phrases. He was very adaptable. He was unassuming in many ways. He had come to learn, not to show off what he already knew, and consequently, he was very receptive to the information. He was quite willing to look at alternatives to his own thinking.
"He engaged well with other candidates, no matter what nationality they were, and also with the coaching staff—no level of arrogance whatsoever. Again, I think his benefit had come from a good, sound playing background, having played at Benfica and also played for Portugal. In fact, I think he played for Portugal against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park on a night when Ronaldo scored a hat-trick. He has a very sound playing background, which I think is beneficial to his coaching development."
Irish Post: What else stood out while at the Irish FA?
Nigel Best: "He was not only good on the pitch and keen to develop that aspect of his learning, but he was also receptive to the classroom when we delivered main topics such as sports psychology, injury medicine, and any issues around that. He obviously looked at things in terms of psychology and individual development, and how I think he could support players.
"As you said earlier, he does have this reputation of being able to relate closely with his players."
Irish Post: When do you think the wing-back system came to him? Was it during your course, or was that something you developed? Was he always like that in terms of how rigid or straightforward the system was?
Nigel Best: "Well, I only had a little preparation for a year before he went back and looked at the video he submitted as part of his course. I think it was 2020 when he was taking a pitch session and playing 3-4-3 at that stage. So it's something that he has obviously had as a personal preference. I wouldn't say necessarily an ideology, but certainly a preference to play 3-4-3. Again, he looked at that last night, although his wingbacks pushed back for a while in the first half. I think what you've asked is a good question because he may have a preferred philosophy, which leads him to play 3-4-3 with the wing-back system.
"It's going to be interesting as a coach: when a coach goes to a new club, does the coach insist on enforcing his playing methodology on the players, or does the coach look at the players he has and decide whether he can or cannot enforce his methodology and possibly have to change, at least for the time being, until he gets new players? I think, as a Manchester United supporter, I’m not convinced that it's going to be easy for him to set off with 3-4-3 given the players that he has at the moment. So, I think that's going to be a key factor in how he initially sets himself up with his players. Does he adapt, or does he make them go down the route that he prefers? It's an interesting one.
Irish Post: I think this is quite lazy, but because he's Portuguese, people are saying he's based on the new José Mourinho, which I can't see from listening to him. But what are your thoughts on that? Can you see that from working with him and seeing his culture firsthand?
Nigel Best: "I think some people have a harsh attitude towards José Mourinho because we had a pro-license course at Chelsea when Mourinho was the special one, and he came off the coaching pitch and was extremely friendly to all the group that was there. So, there's two perceptions of Mourinho. However, I don't think, when it comes to personality, that the two of them are the same. I don't think Ruben does the things that Mourinho does on the pitch. I think he's very stable, as we saw last night. I don't think he carries out press interviews in the same manner as Mourinho. I think Ruben is very straightforward and as honest as he can be in his press interviews," he said.
"I would not agree that he will import a Mourinho style of playing because Mourinho tended to develop success based on solid defensive strategies. When you look at what Ruben has achieved with Sporting, they score a phenomenal number of goals. Now, they beat up the Portuguese league, but they're still one of the top teams in the league. No matter what people say about disparaging the Portuguese league compared to the Premier League, we can imagine Portuguese players are capable of competing in the Premier League.
"We can also imagine Portuguese coaches and managers working in the Premier League and the Championship. So, I think Ruben will come across as being different from Mourinho. I think he will, to a degree, bring a fresh perspective to Manchester United because I think he'll lift the players.
"We've seen them being in a zombie-like situation at the moment, and I think that alone will help them get some results. But going back to the style, I think this will be interesting to look at initially, and then secondly, the transfer market. I'd be very surprised if he's not keen to bring a number of new players in."
Irish Post: Were you surprised by Amorim's success? I read about his journey with Casa Pia, where he lost two games and then said he'd leave if he didn't win the third game, but then went on a run of wins before moving to Sporting Lisbon, and he just completely transformed them, obviously, to make them the best team."
Irish Post: Were you surprised by how quickly it’s taken off? Did you just see a gem in the Irish FA right away?
Nigel Best: "Again, I’d say it’s hard to tell because you can never predict when a coach is going to take off. We've had a lot of good coaches come through our system. In fact, when you look at the Premier League, Eddie Howe and Jason Tyndall, when at Newcastle, both came through our system. Gary O'Neill at Wolves came through our system, and Sean Dyche did his A-license with us. You could recognise talent in all of those, but in football, it’s the least successful that often rises to the top. Sometimes, you need a bit of luck in your footballing journey and to get the right job at the right time.
"While I didn’t underestimate Amorim and his ability, it’s not always easy to say he’s going to be a top manager in the Portuguese or Premier Divisions in England. Coaches need the opportunity at the right moment in their careers, and then it’s up to them to take it. I couldn’t have predicted that he would become such a sought-after manager to the extent that he has, but I knew he was certainly going to be a very, very good coach."
Irish Post: The job itself has swallowed up managers who have been very successful in the leagues. Do you think he has the minerals and the talent to succeed? Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, and you’re not going to say it's such a huge job, but do you feel he will be able to relate to players, create a style quickly, and deal with the big Manchester United? I’m curious to know your thoughts on it.
Nigel Best: "No, I think he’ll swim because I think he has the resolution, determination, and personality. I think what he has on his side more than some of his predecessors, such as Ten Hag, is that he has the ability to relate to and develop relationships with players. He also has the ability to provide them with structure. Even the most talented players understand that modern football requires structure within the organisation of the team. The fact that I think he can bring that will benefit him.
Sporting honored Rúben Amorim before his final home game with the club 💚 pic.twitter.com/y6b0IPAw4d
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 5, 2024
"It doesn't seem that, at least from what I know, Ten Hag was able to do that. For example, Solskjaer might have been able to be friendly with the players, but he didn’t have the management structure and tactical knowledge to develop the team and get good results. Amorim seems to have all of that. Plus, his English is good enough that he’ll be able to relate what he wants to the team and to the supporters and get them behind him more than Ten Hag or some of the previous managers."
Irish Post: It’s interesting with Amorim, just being native. After Busby, the same thing happened until Ferguson came, and after Ferguson, the same thing happened as happened at Busby. So, hopefully, this is the catalyst for a revival. Could you have some good players? Yeah, I’m thinking about new developments and that stuff, and I love the young players coming through. I think it’s obviously the easiest thing for the club."
Irish Post: Do you think these young players will benefit from Ruben Amorim coming in?
Nigel Best: "I suspect they will. As you said, looking at the age profile of Sporting and the fact that he was managing a club that valued developing players as much as they valued being successful as a team in terms of league titles and Europe, it was a selling club for developing players. They’ve done that well with their existing sporting director, who’s now even the sporting director at Manchester City. So, Sporting must be very, very sick of Manchester United. But I suspect even if he is now involved, he’ll continue to make the most of his resources.
"He is relatively young, and I believe he will relate well to younger players. I don’t think he will be afraid to put younger players into the team if he feels they’re ready. So, in my mind, I’m hopeful that the talent and development at Manchester United will continue to produce young players under his leadership, and he’ll be supportive of them."
Irish Post: You’ve given me a lot, and thank you very much. The last question I’d ask is, if you could sum up his coaching in three words, what would they be, in your opinion?
Nigel Best: "He gets results."
Rúben Amorim 💚 pic.twitter.com/ctwS2twuKR
— Sporting CP (@SportingCP) November 5, 2024