The job as manager at Manchester United F.C. is widely regarded as one of the highest-pressure coaching jobs in the world. One bad performance, one wrong word in a press conference, and your job could be gone just like that.
Ruben Amorim was appointed as the manager of Man United in November 2024. He was previously a successful manager at Sporting CP. Note that Ruben Amorim would have rather taken the job in the summer to prepare for the 2025/2026 season, but it was now or never. His first season ended with Man United finishing 15th in the English Premier League, their worst finish ever, but he remained as the manager. This created a lot of controversy around Amorim.
This season, there was an equal mix of bad and good performances. At the time of the sacking, Man United were sitting 6th in the league. Some of the bad performances the fans thought called for him to be sacked were losing 3-0 to Brentford, and drawing 1-1 to Wolves, a historically bad team this year. The main criticism towards Amorim was his signature 3-4-3 formation. Most fans and pundits believed that the players don’t suit a 3 center-back formation. On top of that, Man United always played with 2 center-backs, usually in a 4-4-2.
There is a lot of gray areas in some of the questionable decisions and performances with the club, so it begs the question, who is really behind it? In my opinion, the owners and the board of the club are. My first question is why they appointed a manager who plays a 3-4-3 system, when everyone wants a 4-back formation. The owners eventually asked him to change to a 4-back formation, which is extremely hypocritical considering they appointed a 3-back manager in the first place.
Another aspect of hypocrisy in this is the fact that he was promised that he would get new player signings to fit his system. He needed the club to get him a midfielder and wide players in order for this to work. The club did not keep this promise, and this was the final straw for Amorim. In the post-match press conference after the 1-1 draw to Leeds United on Sunday, he said, “I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach.” This was a direct shot at the board and the owners. He is implying he doesn’t have the level of control he was promised, nor does he have enough control for the team to succeed.
The next morning, he was sacked out of nowhere. This shocked the whole fanbase. Nobody expected him to be sacked before the end of the season, because the club kept him around even after some really bad results. Overall, I think the owners and board are the real problem at the club, and sacking Amorim was just a display of their ego and inability to take the blame.
