There was the familiar "Hi guys" when Ruben Amorim entered the vast press conference room at Carrington. It was constructed so vastly in adherence with Uefa guidelines. Manchester United will not be participating in any of Uefa's three competitions this season.

And they are already one domestic cup competition down. All of the permanent post-Ferguson managers met their own Waterloo, a defeat that may still give them flashbacks: Olympiakos, Midtjylland, Sevilla, Liverpool and Brentford. For Amorim, it is Grimsby.

Amorim was not averse to some gallows humour. "It's not about the system," he protested. "We lost against Grimsby about the system? In the first half, I didn't know the system of the team!"

He suggested in pre-season he would not be as honest and last week Amorim spoke so sl

See Full Page