Is Ruben Amorim in danger of axe? Inside Man Utd boardroom disagreement that could have seen Thomas Frank hired

CAST your mind back 11 years to the last time David Moyes was in a Goodison Park dugout for an Everton v Manchester United match. Then, we were treated to the ghoulish sight of a bookmaker’s stooge dressed as the Grim Reaper, seated yards away from Moyes, dangling his scythe at the soon-to-be-former United boss. Everton won 2-0 and two days later, Moyes was sacked. ‘The Chosen One’ banner, displayed at Old Trafford since he had replaced Sir Alex Ferguson, was hauled down after eight months in situ.

And 11 years later, the Red Devils haven’t recovered from their spiral of chaos and doom. On Saturday, Ruben Amorim takes what remains of his battered United squad to Goodison for his club’s final visit to Everton’s historic home. And this time, Moyes himself can play the Reaper. The Scot, 61, who returned to the Toffees last month, has amassed 13 points from his past five matches — four wins and a dramatic draw against runaway leaders Liverpool.

That points tally is only one fewer than Amorim has mustered in 14 league games as United boss. One month ago, Everton were nine points adrift of the Red Devils and also West Ham. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS. Already, Moyes’ side have leap-frogged both of the clubs who scorned him. It would be too simplistic to claim that if United had stuck with Moyes back in 2014, rather than becoming just another hire-and-fire Premier League club, then everything would have turned out fine and dandy.

It is likely that no manager in world football could have successfully succeeded Ferguson. United’s squad was ageing and Fergie was a genius who had run the whole Old Trafford empire, leaving behind no recognisable modern  management infrastructure. And perhaps Moyes’ skill-set has always been better suited to overachieving at clubs just outside the elite, rather than getting the best out of world-class players.

But still, the contrast in fortunes between Everton and United is glaring. Amorim’s side plunged into the bottom six at an advanced stage of a Premier League season for the first time when they lost Sunday’s ‘Hell Clasico’ to fellow strugglers Spurs. There, the Portuguese named eight teenaged substitutes who had never previously played for United’s first team, using only one of them —   forward Chido Obi — as a 91st- minute replacement for a gone-at-all-levels Casemiro.

Perhaps Amorim should actually have named his 63-year-old goal-keeping coach Jorge Vital among his subs in North London having claimed last month he would rather select the old boy over Marcus Rashford. Defeat by Tottenham was United’s sixth in nine league matches. And looking at the table, it is easy to imagine United finishing in the bottom six. Their position is not a false one, unless you want to argue that they should actually be even further down, among the dead men.

Three of the four league wins Amorim has mustered have been  fortunate — they trailed 1-0 at home to Southampton after 80 minutes, they were 1-0 down to Manchester City before a miraculous late derby turnaround, and won 1-0 at Fulham with their only shot on target, which was massively deflected. Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou offered no sympathy for Amorim’s current injury crisis — ‘welcome to my world, mate, try it for two months’ was his comment.

But United had left themselves wide open to this eventuality by loaning out Rashford and Antony in the winter window, without replacing either. The subsequent season-ending injury to Amad Diallo — the one bright spark of Amorim’s reign — would not have felt quite so debilitating had United not left themselves so short of attacking numbers. And the fact that Antony has now won three successive man-of-the-match awards for Real Betis, while Rashford is showing early promise at Aston Villa, only adds to questions over Amorim’s decision-making.

His insistence on refusing to compromise on a 3-4-3 formation, even when robbed of the services of 12 senior players, is beginning to look like severe bloody-mindedness. Beware of the dogma. There’s much to like about Amorim, such as his unswerving, often damning, honesty about United and a charismatic strength of personality which makes it believable he could turn around the club’s fortunes in the long term.

But there comes a point at any major club — and we still have to regard United as one of those despite a dozen years of trauma — when things become so bad that you have to wonder whether the manager even has a long-term future. Amorim’s appointment seemed like a massive coup. He was the hottest young property in management after an excellent spell at Sporting Lisbon. And yet it is increasingly intriguing to consider why Dan Ashworth — United’s hugely-respected, short-lived sporting director — should have left after just five months having disagreed over Amorim’s appointment.