Ruben Amorin was a toddler two months shy of his second birthday when Sir Alex Ferguson took charge of his first game as Manchester United manager at Oxford United 38 years ago this month.
Like Amorim, Ferguson had been dropped at Old Trafford in November and given the task of resurrecting the fallen giants of English football – something he succeeded in spectacularly after surviving those difficult early years.
Ipswich Town is not Oxford United and Portman Road is not the Manor Ground, where 13,545 fans saw Ferguson suffer a 2-0 defeat in 1986, but there are at least some comparisons to be made between the two scenarios as Amorim prepares for his first match as United's head coach on Sunday afternoon in Suffolk.
The 39-year-old is a smart guy and a student of the game; that much was clear at his unveiling in Carrington on Friday. Over the past 11 years he has seen a succession of managers fail to emerge from Ferguson's shadow.
Having wisely rejected comparisons with his Portuguese compatriot Jose Mourinho, he was equally unwilling to draw parallels with Ferguson.
“It's hard to copy someone, so I have to be myself,” Amorim said, confirming he has yet to meet the Scot. 'It's a different time and I have to have a different approach. I can't be the same man as Sir Alex Ferguson. I can also be demanding with a different approach. That's my focus.
'You have to be very demanding. This is a club that needs to win, needs to win, so we have to show that to our players.”
The former Sporting Lisbon boss believes he can be just as ruthless when it comes to shaking things up at United.
For Ferguson, this meant eradicating the drinking culture he inherited. In Amorim's case it will squeeze the extra effort out of an underperforming side to play the way he wants in a 3-4-3 formation, starting on Sunday at Ipswich, who will be buoyed by their first Premier League win at Tottenham. last time out.
“In the locker room there are some places to have fun, (there are) some places to work hard,” he warned.
'I can be ruthless when I have to. If you think I'll be the nicest man you've ever seen, if there's anyone who only thinks about themselves, I'll be a different person.
'I'm not one of those people who wants to show that I'm in charge. They will feel it in the small details that I can be the laughing one, but when I have a job to do, I will be a different person. They understand that.'
Much of the focus in the short time Amorim had to work with his players for a week during the international break after getting a visa was on holding the ball and working like dogs to retrieve it when they lose possession of the ball. It is central to his philosophy.
“It's so much harder to get into a team in the middle of the season,” Amorim added. 'You have to get to know the players during the matches.
'When you win it's a lot of fun to play a lot of matches and make some practical changes. But if you lose, you won't have the time during training to work out everything you want.
'Where you can improve a team is during training, that is the most important aspect. You can ask the players to recover (the ball) and react very quickly, but if you don't do exercises with that, it's really difficult to do that on video. We will find ways to deal with that.
“We are taking things one match at a time and the current target is a win over Ipswich.”
It took Ferguson three-and-a-half years to win his first trophy at United after that opening game at the Manor Ground and Amorim knows he is unlikely to be given the same respite.
“The only way I have to try to survive this is to concentrate intensely on my work, and there is a lot to do here at our club,” he concluded.
'I know the expectations. High expectations can be a problem because we need to know how to manage these expectations.
“We know it will take time and it won't be easy.”
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