OPINION: Ruud van Nistelrooy had to go

As a Manchester United fan, nothing would’ve given me greater satisfaction than to see Erik ten Hag and his technical team succeed.

It was sad to see the Dutchman being sacked following United’s worst start to a Premier League campaign, but it was ultimately the right decision.

The pain of the Ten Hag era coming to an end was compounded by the release of club legend Ruud van Nistelrooy, who steadied the ship before Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim officially took over the hotseat on Monday.

ALSO READ: Van Nistelrooy leaves Man United as Amorim arrives

United players reportedly pleaded with the club’s hierarchy to keep Van Nistelrooy but the incoming coach prefers starting on a clean slate.

My heart wanted Van Nistelrooy to stay in any capacity within the technical team but logic dictates that Amorim had to cut him loose. The new Red Devils manager is bringing along his backroom staff from Sporting Lisbon in a bid to remedy the current state of affairs at United.

For Amorim to start afresh, the former prolific striker had to go. His desire to be a head coach was an open secret. In addition to that, Van Nistelrooy also came from Ten Hag’s “poisoned tree” and it would have been risky to seek counsel from him.

The former Dutch international won three of his four games and the team looked better under his brief tenure. Imagine a scenario where Amorim gets off to a bad start and Van Nistelrooy is still on the bench.

The rhetoric would be that maybe he should have been left to continue with the job.

In my view, Amorim has already won the first battle as a United coach. Getting rid of a big figure like Van Nistelrooy might just be the tonic that’s needed to nurse United back to good health.

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Two years ago, former caretaker coach Ralf Rangnick said that the 20-time English league champions needed an “open-heart surgery” and I think Amorim has already shown that he’s decisive.

I’d like to see the same courtesy being extended to underperforming players within that change room so that the Red half of Manchester can finally get back to competing for major honours.