Manchester United sack head coach Ruben Amorim after 14 months in charge
English Premier League (EPL) giants Manchester United have sacked their head coach Ruben Amorim, said the club in a statement on Monday (5 Jan).
The development comes just 14 months after he was appointed in November 2024.
Source: Manchester United on Facebook
Manchester United made decision ‘reluctantly’
Amorim, 40, departed his role with Manchester United in sixth place in the EPL table, with five months left in the current season.
The decision was “reluctantly” made by the club’s leadership, the statement said, adding:
It is the right time to make a change.
The club thanked him for his contribution to the club and wished him well for the future.
Ruben Amorim had tensions with Manchester United management
Amorim’s final game with the club was a 1-1 draw with Leeds United on Sunday (4 Jan).
After the disappointing result, he betrayed tensions with the club’s management when he said at a press conference that “every department, the scouting department, the sporting director, needs to do their job”.
Source: Manchester United on Facebook
Though his official position was head coach, he insisted that he was the “manager” of Manchester United, and did not come to be “coach”, reported the Guardian.
He reportedly had a strained relationship with the club’s director of football Jason Wilcox and was involved in a power struggle over transfer policy.
This was evident when he referred to the 18 months left on his contract when telling the media on Sunday:
It’s going to be like this for 18 months or until the board decide to change. I’m not going to quit, I will do my job until another guy is coming here to replace me.
Ruben Amorim started badly after being appointed
Amorim was hired after his successful four-year spell with Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon, winning its first league title in 19 years.
However, at Manchester United he struggled to impose his preferred 3-4-3 formation on players inherited from his predecessor Erik ten Hag.
Under Amorim, the club finished 15th in the EPL last season, its lowest-ever finish in the EPL. He led them to the Europa League final, but was beaten to the trophy by fellow EPL club Tottenham Hotspur.
Source: Manchester United on Facebook
The current season also started badly, with Manchester United being kicked out of the Carabao Cup by Grimsby, a League Two club.
However, results had started improving, with the club beating Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle. In October, they strung together three wins in a row for the first time since February 2024.
With Amorim’s departure, Darren Fletcher, the under-18s coach, will serve as interim manager and take charge of the game against Burnley on Wednesday (7 Jan).
Also read: MS Investigates: Where have all the Manchester United fans in S’pore gone?
MS Investigates: Where have all the Manchester United fans in S’pore gone?
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Featured image adapted from Manchester United on Facebook and Facebook.
