Rio Ferdinand making Amorim’s sacking all about himself is pure David Brent | OneFootball

In the rush to deliver the hottest take on Manchester United‘s decision to sack Ruben Amorim, Rio Ferdinand has managed to make the Old Trafford drama all about himself.

The wish of everybody at Planet Football to ease into the post-Christmas and New Year period was dashed by Amorim’s dismissal on Monday morning.

Planned articles were shelved, priorities reassessed and writers scrambled to new assignments in a manner akin to the RAF pilots at the Battle of Britain.

With a huge profile in sports media, despite lacking many of the qualities that deliver insight, Ferdinand’s reaction to the news quickly spread across the internet. It didn’t disappoint.

“I didn’t anticipate this when I woke up this morning that Ruben Amorim would be getting the sack,” he said. “He was not in the four or five managers I thought would be getting the sack next.”

The thought of Ferdinand diligently updating his personal sack list after every Premier League match warms our hearts as yesterday’s snow remains stubbornly frozen over outside.

But the real gold came from his reaction to Darren Fletcher taking temporary charge of the team for Wednesday’s fixture at Burnley.

“I’m really excited to see him, I mean the Man Utd [ex-players] WhatsApp group is popping off as you can imagine with congratulations and good luck messages to Fletch,” Ferdinand said.

“One thing we will do is he’ll take counsel. He’ll lean on people. I’m sure one of his first phone calls will be Sir Alex Ferguson – followed by myself. But he will ask those questions. He’s got humility.

“If I was a betting man, I’d say he’ll do a good enough job.

“I want him to make it difficult for the hierarchy to make a decision on the next manager – on the next coach. Because that’s obviously the question everyone’s asking.”

United’s current state is partly down to the absence of humility, continuing to act like the Biggest Club despite all available evidence on the pitch.

In that context, this really is top-class stuff from Rio, the self-appointed man of the people inserting himself into Fletcher’s story with indecent haste.

Ferdinand has made three big contributions to United’s post-Ferguson era, starting with downing tools under David Moyes after being asked to watch clips of Phil Jagielka.

Rumours have also circulated that the defender protested against the removal of chips from the canteen’s menu during Moyes’ tenure.

He lay dormant for a while before memorably declaring ‘United are back’ in 2019, rubbing his hands together with glee and openly begging the club to give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ‘whatever he wants’.

Two years later, Ferdinand infamously intervened to ensure Cristiano Ronaldo returned to the club instead of joining Manchester City, fatally undermining Solskjaer in the process.