Embarrassing defeat and bizarre parade – inside Man Utd’s troubled trip

They probably need this like a hole in the head, according to the player I’ve been there and as a player.

When addressing Manchester United’s post-season tour of Asia, Hong Kong coach Ashley Westwood was direct and to the point.

As an FA Youth Cup winner with United in 1995 – and someone who worked for the club’s in-house television channel MUTV during a recent pre-season trip to Perth – Westwood has an understanding of the pressures and demands associated with being a player for the 20-time English champions.

No one should be in any doubt about the reality of the situation, according to Westwood, despite the public’s players talking about their post-season trip to Asia and officials praising their actions.

Fans and sponsors pay wages, and this trip is all about revenue, he said, but no one ever says it on the record because they can’t.

At half-time in Hong Kong, as United trailed 1-0 to the national side 153rd in Fifa’s rankings, the tour looked to be going from bad to worse.

The second-half goals from two young Arsenal signings, Chido Obi and Ayden Heaven, gave the under-capacity crowd a new the chance to start the summer off on a high note for United, who both signed for the club this season, and at least allowed them to start the season on a winning note.

United estimates that their 14 000-mile, six-day expedition will bring in about £10 million. Therefore, the payment is guaranteed and does not depend on ticket sales.

At a time when their focus in pre-season – both commercially and from a player preparation perspective – is on the United States, where they will go for the third successive summer in July, United’s presence in the region also allows them to ‘ service ‘ existing big-money sponsorship deals with the likes of banking partner Maybank, airline partner Malaysia Airlines, beer partner Tiger and tyre partner Apollo.

After their surprise 1-0 defeat by a South-East Asia select XI on Wednesday, the team’s goalkeeper Andre Onana, defenders Harry Maguire, and Diogo Dalot were booed by a large percentage of the 72, 550 crowd, which provided the evidence for the real purpose of United’s trip, which was informed that Andre Onana, Harry Maguire, and Diogo Dalot had been substituted and were heading for the airport.

The trio boarded a private plane to Mumbai where they would spend Thursday watching a packed commercial program arranged by Apollo, before returning home a day earlier than those who had traveled to Hong Kong for the second game.

As Westwood said, United’s players had been given little choice about being on the trip.

There was no chance to back out after the final Premier League game against Aston Villa, which came immediately after. Even though Matthijs de Ligt, a Dutch defender, was unfit to play, he was present. United wanted Christian Eriksen and Victor Lindelof there too but both had personal reasons to decline.

So Ruben Amorim’s squad made the most of it. It is fair to say that their approach to this event was “relax” in contrast to a focused and determined pre-season tour.

The scenes on the flight from Manchester to Kuala Lumpur were said to be like a party, with loud music and drinks. A club was immediately visible to some players and staff members on Monday. After Wednesday’s game, there was also a chance to relax.

In the wake of their defeat in Kuala Lumpur, there was gallows humour among the squad when it was pointed out somewhat ironically that after the season they just had domestically, they had now managed to get booed by fans 6, 600 miles away from home.

Due to the unfavorable nature of the room service, Dutch striker Joshua Zirkzee escorted out with security to get some late-night food. When Alamed Diallo, Heaven, and Alejandro Garnacho attempted to take an e-scooter ride, they discovered they had no money to pay for it.

Garnacho does not appear to have been an enthusiastic participant.

The young Argentina winger is still a popular among supporters, as evidenced by the raucous cheers for him in both games after returning from a post-Europa League final summit with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and other club executives in Monaco.

However, there is evidence of a lack of engagement.

After the ASEAN All-Stars defeat, Garnacho went straight past opposition captain Sergio Aguero – a 31-year-old Argentina-born naturalised Malaysian – despite promising him his shirt from the game. A United kitman removed Garnacho’s shirt from the dressing room and gave it to the team.

As images of Amad making a one-fingered gesture to a fan as he left the team hotel appeared on social media on Thursday, adding even more resentment.

Amad subsequently said he was responding to abuse against his mum. He acknowledged that his response was incorrect, but he never regretted it.

Some of United’s decisions have also been questioned if specific behaviors raise questions or can be excused from a corporate perspective.

The context is clearly different but having ruled out having a parade if they won the Europa League final in Bilbao, to see a group of players – including Zirkzee – embark on a bus parade through Kuala Lumpur was bizarre. Some fans did show up, and United’s spirit is still present in this area.

However, it is not on par with their previous visit to Malaysia, in 2009, when they were Premier League champions and had players like Ryan Giggs, Michael Owen, and Wayne Rooney.

At that time, they struggled to get around their hotel such was the constant presence of fans. Their first game attracted 85, 000 spectators, and the second game, which were scheduled for 48 hours after a terrorist attack in Jakarta, had gathered there.

For Amorim, it has been another eye-opening crash course in what being a figurehead at United means. On Thursday night in Hong Kong, he said, “More than a manager.”

During his time in Kuala Lumpur, he was introduced to Malaysia’s prime minister and United fan Anwar Ibrahim. It is the kind of exposure you do not get at most clubs, even the size of his previous team Sporting in Portugal.

Amorim is aware that he must deliver results when he is removed from the sideshow.

After a season in which he described his team as “probably the worst” United have ever had, his team somehow managed to lose to a team made up of players from a region without any prior international success.

United were booed off, Amorim claimed his side were “chokers” and he had to implore supporters to buy tickets for the Hong Kong game. According to the number of empty seats, the plea was unheeded.

The squad was greeted in Hong Kong by a significant thunderstorm and a pouring down of rain, which raised concerns that the trip’s finale match might not be played.

The game went ahead, although it did so amid fresh speculation over the future of skipper Bruno Fernandes, who has been the subject of a huge offer from Saudi club Al-Hilal, who want the Portugal midfielder to be part of their squad at the Club World Cup.

Nothing is certain until the 30-year-old or Al Hilal specifically state otherwise, but Amorim predicts Fernandes will stay.

The majority of those present were pleased to see Hong Kong win.

But Amorim accepts the trip was missing something pretty important.

In a survey of “nearly 54, 000 adults in 39 nations” between June and August 2011, market research firm Kantar came to the conclusion that United had 659 million global “followers.”

It seems unlikely that Ratcliffe will release an update anytime soon in this era of brutal cost-cutting. On the evidence here in Hong Kong and Malaysia, it is hard to imagine United have close to that number now.

They once dominated the Premier League financially, but they now trail Manchester City, who have won more money in the past ten years.

Despite the red shirts on display this week, which, in fairness to Fernandes, Garnacho and others, they spent time signing autographs for fans before heading to Hong Kong airport and home, United are no longer the same as they were.

It is not known when they will return to the region – but Amorim knows for certain what would make it a better experience than this one.

He said, “We want to return, but I’d prefer to come back with better outcomes.”