A football reporter from England has been labelled “arrogant” for insisting new Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim “speak English” during a press conference in his native Portugal.
Amorim, who is serving a notice period at Sporting Lisbon before taking up his new role as United head coach, faces Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League next week in his first assignment as Red Devils manager.
“If the result is negative, expectations will drop. If we win, they will think that the new Alex Ferguson has arrived,” Amorim told a news conference, which translated his answers in Portuguese to English, ahead of the game at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
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The press conference went for roughly 20 minutes with the manager answering questions from local journalists in his native tongue, but that wasn’t good enough for UK football reporter Gary Cotterill.
“Ruben, hello. Do you know what we miss?” Cotterill began.
“What?” Amorim replied.
“Your wonderful English. Can we have one answer in English for all people who are going to be watching this game interested in Manchester City, in Sporting and in Manchester United?
“One answer in English?”
Ruben Amorim’s exchange with the reporter drew the ire of several fans. Sky News
A moderator off camera then reminded the reporter that Amorim will be speaking in English when he takes up his new role on November 11.
“You’ll have time to hear Ruben speaking English,” they responded.
“Have Manchester United asked you not to speak in English?” Cotterill then asked.
“No, no, no,” Amorim replied.
Cotterill: “I wondered if you were aware that obviously to win tomorrow night will be brilliant for your current club, but also brilliant for your new club.
“You could be a hero even before you get on a plane to Manchester. Has that crossed your mind? In English please.”
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Amorim: “Hmm sorry, I cannot speak in English now.”
When he was repeatedly asked “why” by the reporter, Amorim motioned towards the local journalists in the room: “They will miss me in Portuguese, so I have to speak Portuguese.”
Cotterill: “They’ve had about 25 minutes in Portuguese. We want 10 seconds in English.”
Amorim again looked at the moderator, who said: “We will proceed in Portuguese.
“Next week, you will hear him talking English.”
Cotterill finished off by saying: “It’s like a cold shoulder to all your English fans.”
Cotterill’s tone and overall behaviour sparked the ire of commentators and football fans around the world.
“An English reporter throwing a tantrum because Ruben Amorim, a Portuguese manager, currently representing a Portuguese club, is speaking Portuguese at a press conference,” captioned Portuguese football profile Proxima Jornada when posting the video on X.
“Breathtaking arrogance from the journalist,” added English reporter Ben Jones in a retweet.
The exchange with the reporter gave Amorim an indication just how hungry the team is for success.
Victory against City would fuel belief among United fans that they finally have a coach capable of challenging Guardiola’s Premier League dominance after Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ten Hag all failed to do so.
Guardiola’s own future as City’s head coach is uncertain, with his contract up at the end of the season and no indication yet whether he intends to extend.
Convincing him to sign a new deal could become the responsibility of another man currently based in Lisbon, Sporting’s outgoing sporting director Hugo Viana, who is headed to City in January.
Viana’s appointment as successor to Txiki Begiristain, who will step down from his role at City at the end of the season, prompted speculation Amorim could be a candidate to replace Guardiola if or when he walks away.
But he will instead turn up on the other side of Manchester, where he will try to bring the good times back to the 20-time English champion.
Amorim is United’s sixth permanent manager since Ferguson retired in 2013. None have come close to winning the title during a period of dominance for City, which has been crowned champion six times in eight years under Guardiola.
That is why United fans will likely pay close attention to next week’s match and the tactical battle of wits between Amorim and Guardiola.
Given United’s successes against City in the past have generally been by virtue of counter-attacking soccer, it will be fascinating to see if Amorim is prepared to take a more progressive approach in what will be his final game in front of Sporting’s home fans.
It is potentially a good time to face City, with Guardiola’s squad weakened by injuries to key players and shaken by back-to-back losses.
“What interests me is winning, saying a good farewell to Estadio Alvalade. What I want is to make the fans and my players happy,” Amorim said.