Only five days have passed in the year 2026 and two managers have already fallen in the Premier League. The first was Enzo Maresca, … that the poor streak of results and his disagreements with the Chelsea board put the finishing touches on New Year’s, and now it is Rubén Amorim who suffers the same fate. Manchester United announced this Monday the dismissal of the Portuguese coach, whose incendiary statements after the draw that the ‘red devils’ achieved on Sunday against Leeds filled the patience of the top managers of the Mancunian entity.
«With Manchester United sixth in the Premier League, the club’s board has reluctantly decided that the time is right to make a change. This will give the team the best opportunity to achieve the best possible position in the Premier League,” says the statement released by the Old Trafford club to account for the departure of the Portuguese coach, whom it recruited fourteen months ago by paying Sporting de Portugal eleven million euros but who has not been able to revive a giant of European football that has been adrift for more than a decade.
Amorim’s relationship with the United board had been deteriorating in recent times, especially with the sporting director, Jason Wilcrox, whom he targeted in the tirade he launched on Sunday after his team failed to get past a draw at Elland Road.
«I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the manager of Manchester United. And that is clear. I know my name is not Tuchel, nor Conte, nor Mourinho, but I am the manager of Manchester United. And it will be like this for 18 months or until the board decides to change it. That’s my opinion. I want to end it. I’m not going to resign. “I will do my job until someone else comes to replace me,” said the Lisbon strategist in an appearance that fell like a shot in the upper echelons of Old Trafford and that triggered the dismissal of a coach who had been walking on quicksand for some time.
His replacement, on an interim basis, will be Darren Fletcher, a former United footballer who until now has been leading the Red Devils under-18 team. Fletcher will sit on the bench on Wednesday against Burnley and the British press does not rule out that the season could even end to give the club’s board time to find a reliable coach.
Amorim’s dismissal prolongs the endless valley of tears that Manchester United has become since the legendary Alex Ferguson left the Old Trafford bench at the end of the 2012-13 campaign, after 26 seasons and 38 titles that made the fans of the Red Devils live the best time in their history.
At drift
Since the Scot’s departure, ten coaches have passed through the Manchester United bench with very diverse profiles, from the measured David Moyes to the tempestuous José Mourinho, through the experienced Louis van Gaal or old legends of the club such as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Ruud van Nistelrooy, the latter in an interim capacity, without any of them being able to come close to the heights that the ‘red devils’ stepped on in the much-missed Ferguson times.
The choice of Amorim last year as a replacement for the Dutchman Erik ten Hag sparked enthusiasm among United fans, but his journey as head of the Mancunian team ended without titles. The Old Trafford team finished last season in a paltry fifteenth position in the Premier League and succumbed to Tottenham in the Europa League final played at San Mamés.
This season, things seemed to have improved somewhat for the Red Devils, although still far from the logical demands in a club with such a history. Amorim leaves United sixth in the Premier with 31 points, seventeen behind the lead held by Arsenal, despite not having the distraction of European competitions.
After spending 250 million euros in the summer to add players of the caliber of Benjamin Sesko (76.5 million), the French-Cameroonian Bryan Mbeumo (75 million) or the Brazilian Matheus Cunha (74.2 million) to their ranks, there are still few lights on at Old Trafford beyond Bruno Fernandes and United’s competitive level remains far from what its demanding parish expected.
