Manchester United skipper Bruno Fernandes says he has apologised to sacked manager Erik ten Hag – something former captain Roy Keane dismissed as being “too little, too late”.
A poor start to the Dutchman’s third season in charge led the Old Trafford hierarchy to unanimously decide to end his 29-month reign on Monday.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim has been named successor and will start a week on Monday, with interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy overseeing Sunday’s 1-1 Premier League draw with Chelsea.
Moises Caicedo’s volley cancelled out a penalty from Fernandes in the first Premier League match since the sacking of Ten Hag – something his skipper apologised for his role in.
Roy Keane gave Fernandes’ comments short shrift (Niall Carson/PA)
“We all know that when the manager leaves everyone is involved,” Fernandes told Sky Sports. “But only one pays because it’s easier to get rid of a manager than 10 or 15 players.
“I spoke with the manager and I apologised to him if there was something I could’ve done better for him, that I feel really disappointed that he’s gone.
“But what remains with me was he feels I always gave everything and try to help in any way possible.
“Obviously I wasn’t scoring goals and that’s a big thing for me and for the team.
“We’re not scoring many goals and I feel also a big responsibility on that because I’m normally a player that scores a lot of goals, gives a lot of assists and it was not coming.
Ruben Amorim has been named as Man Utd manager (Zed Jameson/PA)
“I feel disappointed on that but I always gave my 100 per cent to help him and the main thing is that he is aware of that and is something that at least I can keep in my head.”
Former United captain Keane, speaking in his role as a Sky Sports pundit, gave short shrift to Fernandes’ comments.
“Too little, too late,” he said. “Listen, these are always awkward interviews but I wouldn’t have much time and patience for a player to say ‘listen, sorry we’ve let you down’. Too little, too late.
“You’re judged by what you do on the football pitch and I don’t think Bruno (has) done enough in a lot of the games where he didn’t show that leadership.
“So, it’ll be interesting to obviously hear what Ten Hag has to say about it but you also have to move on.
“Listen, a lot of players don’t care that much when a manager goes.
“They just focus on the next manager coming in, they get ready and they look after themselves. Of course, that’s as part of the game. Players can be selfish, we know that.
“But I don’t think Bruno (has) done enough as a captain of Man United over last year to help the manager out. Far from it. The proof’s there with all the results.
“Not just on to Bruno, of course, but I don’t think he showed enough leadership skills when the going got tough with some of the performances.
“I don’t think Bruno should be too proud of himself of what’s happened to the Man United manager over the last week or two with Ten Hag. I think the players let the manager down ultimately.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel