Amorim's aim at the management got him the sack

“He has not had the best of seasons. Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years. That's where I would be. You can't run a club like Manchester United on knee-jerk reactions. You know, you flick a switch and it's all going to be roses tomorrow” said Manchester United‘s co-owner sir Jim Ratfcliffe about Ruben Amorim in October 2025. On January 5th, the Portuguese is out of the door after another series of bad results, but this time, which is worse, after a clash with the management. As reported by The Athletic, former midfielder and current Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher is expected to take charge on an interim basis, with a permanent appointment likely to wait until the end of the season. The decision has been arrived at by the club’s leadership team, including chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, after a breakdown in relations behind the scenes.

Maybe the United board was ready to tolerate another set of bad results, but they certainly weren‘t gonna listen to their manager criticizing them, without good performances to back him up. Amorim only one one game in the last five, and his record (24 wins out of 63 games) didn‘t help him either. But when he insisted (after a poor 1-1 draw with Leeds) that he is the ‘manager and not the head coach‘ and that everybody should ‘do their job‘, he went too far.

Shared spoils, two goals and the derby that fell short

"I came here to be the manager of Manchester United… not to be the coach of Manchester United. That is clear. I know my name is not Thomas Tuchel, it's not Antonio Conte, it's not Jose Mourinho, but I am the manager of Manchester United and it's going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decide to change. I'm not going to quit. I will do my job until other guy is coming here to replace me. I just want to say that I am going to be the MANAGER of this team, not just the coach and I was really clear on that. And that is going to finish in 18 months and then everyone is going to move on. That was the deal, that is my job… not to be a coach. If people cannot handle the Gary Nevilles, the criticism, everything, we need to change the club. I just want to say that. I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach. In every department, the scouting department, the sporting director needs to do his job, and I will do mine for 18 months and then we move on“ he said after Leeds.

Ratcliffe: 'Amorim will get three years at United'

Director of football Jason Wilcox was the one he apparently had the most clashes with, mainly due to the famous ‘formation‘ issue. Amorim repetedeadly said that he favours 3-4-3 and that he won‘t change it even if it means a sack. While Wilcox prefers a formation with four defenders at the back. Amorim‘s only recent win came against Newcastle, when it was obvious he played 4-2-3-1, but he switched back to 3-4-3 against Wolves and draw the game 1-1. ‘Do your job‘ warning to Wilcox at the press conference was a bit too much. So now, United, who paid 11 million pounds to Sporting to get Amorim will look for another head coach (not manager).

AFCON 2025 - ROUND OF 16

Monday

19.00: (1.48) Egypt (4.10) Benin (7.50)

22.00: (1.40) Nigeria (4.50) Mozambique (8.50)

Tuesday

19.00: (2.00) Algeria (3.35) DR Congo (4.00)

22.00: (1.90) Ivory Coast (3.40) Burkina Faso (4.30)

***odds are subject to change***