Portuguese

Estoril had just lost 3-1 to Sporting at Alvalade, but Ian Cathro was in an incredibly positive mood in his post-match news conference.

“Can I put a question to you?” he asked a journalist in native-level Portuguese the last time the team from the Lisbon coast faced Sporting away, in March 2025.

“What type of football do you like to watch? Did you enjoy the game? Probably you were all around here in other matches and I assume you fell asleep [at some point]. We want to do things differently.”

That night, despite the result, at times Estoril, who play in a 5,000-capacity stadium, managed to silence more than 35,000 home fans.

Cathro couldn’t have been prouder to witness it.

On Friday, the 39-year-old Scottish coach will be heading back to Alvalade hoping to achieve the same, albeit with a better outcome on the pitch.

His Estoril side are one of the most exciting teams to watch in Portugal, averaging two goals per game with 46 in 23 matches, the fourth most, and more than league leaders FC Porto (44).

Along with Sporting, they’ve had the most games scoring four or more this campaign (six). For the second consecutive season, a team used to fighting relegation finds itself comfortably in the top half of the table, albeit with the most porous defence, having conceded 39 goals.

The club’s record top-flight points tally of 54, achieved in the 2013-14 season, when they recorded their best finish of fourth, is perhaps out of reach this term given they are on 33 with 11 games remaining, but even Benfica boss Jose Mourinho admitted being impressed by Cathro, saying “he’s leaving his mark”.

The Scotsman’s secret? As he always emphasises, they play with no fear, regardless of the opponent.

“I’m young, but I’ve already been through a lot, in a lot of places. I think I’ve already seen almost every film you can see in a career in this industry,” Cathro tells BBC Sport.

“I’m not here trying to win five games in a row just to make the jump. I look at this project and I genuinely feel my responsibility is to help the club take a step to another level. And that other level is more stability, so that no one – absolutely no-one – is afraid anymore.”

The recognition for that is certainly coming.

In January, Cathro was voted the Portuguese top flight’s coach of the month by his peers.

Amorim is yet to speak publicly about his time at United and sources close to the 41-year-old have said there is no immediate likelihood of that changing.

The payment completes an expensive managerial experiment that ultimately ended badly.

United confirmed in a similar filing on 27 November 2024 they were paying Sporting £11m to hire Amorim to replace Erik ten Hag, whose exit was costing £10.4m.

It means the combined changes around Amorim could cost £37.3m.

His 14-month stint in charge was the shortest reign of a permanent manager at Old Trafford since David Moyes was sacked just eight months into his tenure in 2014.

Amorim won 25 of his 63 games in charge, finishing 15th in the Premier League, United’s worst performance since they were relegated in 1973-74.

They also lost the Europa League final, meaning they have no European football this season for only the second time since 1990.

This term, Amorim’s team were embarrassed by League Two Grimsby, who beat them on penalties in the Carabao Cup second round.

United were sixth in the Premier League when he was dismissed, having had a major fallout with director of football Jason Wilcox days before the Leeds game.

Although under-18s coach and former United midfielder Darren Fletcher was named as interim boss for two games, Michael Carrick has been given the job until the end of the season and won his fifth game out of six when his team beat Everton on Monday.

They are now fourth, and well placed to qualify for the Champions League.

Meanwhile, United have also confirmed they have increased the available credit from their drawdown facility by £50m to £400m, while also paying off £75m, meaning they currently owe £215m on it.

In addition, the filing also stated £600,000-worth of “sponsorship services” had been provided to Ineos Automotive Ltd, an offshoot of the Ineos group owned by United’s minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe.