Ten minutes before full-time and with their team well beaten, Manchester United’s fans high up in the Leazes End at St James’ Park launched into their tribute song for Ruben Amorim and didn’t stop until the final whistle.
If you haven’t heard it before, it’s sung to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘It’s a Heartache’. How appropriate. Amorim has endured plenty of that since abandoning a perfectly good job at Sporting Lisbon for the madness of Old Trafford in November. Eleven of his 32 games have ended in defeat, a record that would read a whole lot worse were it not for the Europa League.