United have found a classy manager, in any language

Sporting CP’s Champions League match with Manchester City last night was full of intriguing sub-plots, as manager Ruben Amorim prepares to join Manchester United later this month and his sporting director and close friend, Hugo Viana, prepares to join City in the new year.

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

For an added twist, the pair’s wives are in business together running an interior design company, Dois Tons, and plan to continue their joint venture from across the Manchester divide.

But what was not expected this week was conflict between Amorim and the British media. You may have seen the toecurling clip from Sporting’s press conference on Monday in which the usually jovial Sky Sports journalist Gary Cotterill demands Amorim answer him in English, with all the respect of an empire officer speaking to a local tribesman. Portugal, it might be noted, had an empire of its own.

Amorim attempted to disarm his aggressor with a smile. Sporting’s press officer chimed in: “He will speak in English next week.” Amorim self-deprecatingly apologised for his grasp of English (though it is actually very good).

Had Cotterill begun with a polite request then he might have made some inroads. Instead, he sounded irate and entitled, accusing Amorim of turning “a cold shoulder to all your English fans”, as if Manchester United supporters were huddled around TVs all over the globe waiting with bated breath for their new manager to joust with Sky Sports’s lead overcoat.