Sir Alex Ferguson delivered a brutal put-down to Manchester United assistant Chris Armas when he met the American coach for the first time, according to reports.
The 49-year-old was drafted in by interim boss Ralf Rangnick in December last year following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal, with Michael Carrick and, later, Kieran McKenna also departing to leave United’s backroom team rather depleted.
Armas had been fired from his job with Toronto FC a few months earlier, having only won one of 11 matches in MLS.
But Rangnick was a big fan of Armas and knew him well from his time as both an assistant and head coach at New York Red Bulls, where the German played a key role behind the scenes.
Unfortunately for the duo, their arrival at Old Trafford did not trigger a change in fortunes for the club who ended up finishing in sixth place, only qualifying for the Europa League after West Ham lost to Brighton.
There had been some rumours of discontent in the dressing room about the calibre of the coaches appointed by Rangnick, with the interim boss hamstrung with his choices with many of his preferred options unavailable – while he had wanted to keep Carrick and McKenna.
Now The Athletic report that it was not just the players who had reservations about the appointment of Armas, with Sir Alex giving him short shrift too.
Armas met the legendary Scot in his lounge at Old Trafford after United’s 1-1 draw with Young Boys in December, with the American reeling off his career both as a player and a manager.
But Sir Alex was reportedly none too impressed, replying brutally and bluntly: ‘You’ll need more than that here, son.’
According to The Athletic’s report, Armas almost permanently had airpods in to communicate with another of Rangnick’s coaches – Lars Kornetka – who was not actually employed by United but did extensive analysis, even during games, and communicated with the interim boss via Armas.
The American will not remain at Old Trafford when Erik ten Hag takes over, with his contract – and those of fellow Rangnick recruits Ewan Sharpe and Sascha Lense – expiring at the end of next month.
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