Amorim follows Maresca out of Premier League after ‘awful’ season

“Ruben Amorim has shown that there is only so far a manager can push it,” said Sky News. The Manchester United head coach was shown a red card yesterday, only 14 months after joining from Sporting Lisbon.

After Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Leeds United, Amorim “inflamed tensions” with the Old Trafford hierarchy, telling the club’s director of football Jason Wilcox and scouting team to “do their jobs” as he had come to the club to be the manager, not the coach.

Just like Enzo Maresca, who left Chelsea on New Year’s Day, “challenging the leadership in public has ended in the sack”.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

‘Inevitable and predictable’

Amorim’s sacking was “inevitable and predictable”, said Sky Sports. The Portuguese was the 10th manager appointed since Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013; the United hierarchy was “desperate to give him a full season in charge before judging him” – partly because of the £12 million cost of sacking him and also to avoid the “recurring instability” of ever-changing leadership.

“Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years,” United minority owner Jim Ratcliffe told The Times’ The Business podcast in October. “We have to be patient. We have a long-term plan. It isn’t a light switch.”

But United’s results since Amorim took charge were “so poor, they never afforded the club’s bosses, or Amorim, the luxury of time”, said Sky Sports. Last season United finished 15th – their lowest since the mid-1970s – and were heavily criticised after losing the Europa League final to Spurs. This season, after spending more than £200 million on “attacking talent” last summer, the results have still been “awful”.

Despite “signs of progress” and a “charismatic approach that charmed supporters”, Amorim “must be considered United’s worst permanent manager of the post-Ferguson era”, said The Guardian. United are “adamant there have been no power clashes” and that Amorim was “sacked due to a lack of progress”. But the Old Trafford bosses “cannot have liked” his comments.

“I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United,” Amorim said. “I know that my name is not Tuchel, it’s not Conte, it’s not Mourinho, but I’m the manager of Manchester United and it’s going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decides to change.”

‘Bitter fracture’

Former United defender Gary Neville told Sky Sports that Amorim’s words were “something similar” to those of Maresca before he left Chelsea. Maresca said in mid-December that he’d endured “the worst 48 hours of his career at the club”.

The Italian arrived at Stamford Bridge from Leicester in 2024 and led the Blues to Uefa Conference League glory in his first season, as well as a fourth-place Premier League finish, “sealing a return to the Champions League”, said the Daily Mirror. “He followed that up with a run to glory in the Club World Cup, beating Paris Saint-Germain in the final.” As recently as November, Chelsea were second in the league table, and Maresca won manager of the month.

But on New Year’s Day, he “dramatically left his role” after “an irretrievable breakdown in his relationship with the club’s board”, said The Sun. He had signed a five-year deal with a further 12-month option, worth about £4 million per season, but the “bitter fracture” with the Chelsea hierarchy, including co-owner Todd Boehly, and confrontations over who should start games and substitutions, “left him feeling he could not stay in SW6”. A 2-2 home draw with Bournemouth “brought the final rupture”. Maresca walked out of Stamford Bridge without speaking to his players and forfeiting a potential £14 million payout.

Chelsea have “cycled through” four managers and two interim bosses in less than four years, and are now hunting for their fifth full-time head coach of the Boehly era. But Maresca’s decision to forego his payout means he’s immediately available for work. He is now, according to Sporting Life, one of the favourites to replace Amorim at United.