Sky Sports reporter Gary Cotterill has been criticised across social media following a bizarre interaction with Ruben Amorim, in which he said the manager was giving Manchester United fans the ‘cold shoulder’ by not speaking English.
Erik ten Hag was relieved of his duties at Old Trafford last week and United moved quickly to wrap up a deal for his successor Amorim, who was duly appointed on Friday.
Amorim has put pen to paper on a three-year contract at United, which includes the option for the club to extend by a further 12 months. However, the Portuguese will not join the Red Devils until November 11.
He will, therefore, continue as Sporting’s head coach for the side’s next two matches against Manchester City and Braga, in the Champions League and the Primeira Liga respectively.
Over the last few seasons, Amorim has established himself as one of the most highly rated young coaches in world football and the 39-year-old has been just as impressive off the pitch – possessing a charm and charisma which Ten Hag so lacked throughout his reign at the Theatre of Dreams.
Ahead of Sporting’s clash with United’s bitter rivals, City, though, Amorim was involved in a toe-curling exchange with Sky Sports’ Cotterill – but there can surely be no doubting who came off the better of the two from the encounter.
Given he remains in charge of Sporting for the time being, Amorim has continued speaking his mother tongue while fielding questions from the press… as everyone in the media would expect. Well, everyone apart from Cotterill, it seems.
How the interaction between Cotterill and Amorim played out…
‘Ruben, do you know what we miss? 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?’
‘You’ll have time to hear Ruben speaking in English. Now it’s time for him to speak Portuguese.’
‘Have Manchester United asked you not to speak in English?’
‘No, no.’
‘I wondered if you were aware that, obviously, to win tomorrow night would 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.’
‘Sorry. I cannot speak in English now.’
‘Why?’
‘Sorry.’
‘Why?!’
‘Sorry. They will miss me in Portuguese so I have to speak Portuguese.’
‘They’ve had about 25 minutes in Portuguese. We want ten seconds in English.’
‘We will proceed in Portuguese. Next week you can hear him talking English.’
‘It’s like a cold shoulder to all your English fans.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the heavy-handedness with which Cotterill dealt with the situation did not go down too well with supporters of United, or football fans in general, on X.
‘This isn’t a journalism problem. It’s a human decency problem. It’s a lack of respect. It’s blatant arrogance and ignorance. It’s a false sense of superiority reeking of xenophobia. It’s everything wrong with the English Premier League mentality. @gary_cotterill do better,’ one user on X, @kevinaraujof, tweeted.
‘Honestly, this is so weird and unnecessarily provocative from Gary Cotterill. Why be so aggy for the sake of it when you’ve literally travelled to PORTUGAL to be part of a press conference being conducted in Portuguese? Odd behaviour,’ @HLTCO wrote.
‘Tell you what @gary_cotterill why don’t YOU learn to speak Portuguese? He told you he was conducting the presser in his native language so why couldn’t YOU learn a few words of his language?’ @jonmikesav8 said.
‘Disappointing this, @gary_cotterill did exactly the same thing with Ten Hag before he had started work too. Trying to paint the incoming manager as difficult for no other reason than because you’re trying to portray him in that way. Bad look, Gary,’ Manchester United writer Wayne Barton tweeted.
‘Typical entitlement of English media. @gary_cotterill has attended a Portuguese press conference involving a Portuguese Club with Portuguese manager and interrogates him to speak English. Guaranteed they’ll use this against him to bring him down somehow,’ @AntonioMango4 said in response to the video.
On the very same day as Amorim’s awkward interrogation by Cotterill, Amorim did give United supporters a taste of his impressive English during a five-minute interview with TNT Sports.
‘It’s been the worst and best week of my life. I don’t have another way to explain,’ he said of his whirlwind experience over the last few days.
‘Very tough because I’m leaving a very good place but I’m going to one of the best clubs in the world so it has been very tough but it is what it is.’
Amorim stressed that he was approaching Sporting’s match with Manchester City as ‘just that’ – and not merely as a screen test for the Old Trafford job.
‘It’s another game as Sporting coach and I will be judged as a Sporting coach,’ he added.
‘It’s a massive game. For me, he [Pep Guardiola] is the best coach in the world, I know it’s tough for Manchester United fans, and I think it is the best team in the world.
‘It’s going to be a tough game. We are near the qualification for the play-off so this game is very important.
‘It is my last game at at the Jose Alvalade Stadium so that is my focus: the last game of Sporting, my last game there.
‘I know everybody in England is taking ideas for this game but for me it is just that: Sporting coach, my last game here.’
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