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Hello! Ruben Amorim put the cat among the pigeons yesterday by saying he saw himself as the manager of Manchester United, not the head coach. Less than 24 hours later, he’s neither.
Coming up:
Amorim on the edge: Man Utd boss makes cryptic comments about hierarchy but ‘will not quit’
Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Huge news to start the TAFC week: Ruben Amorim has left Manchester United after 14 months in charge and a post-match tirade which talked him out of the door. One of the biggest jobs in club football is vacant again.
The Portuguese never found his sea legs at Old Trafford and by last night it was obvious that he was as sick of United as some inside United were of him. He teed up his dismissal with coded remarks before a 1-1 draw with Leeds United, and a rant at the end of that game yesterday could only ever end one way.
The countdown started on Saturday when Amorim admitted the 3-4-3 system he’d been sticking to with bloody-minded stubbornness wasn’t clicking, and nor did he have the players to make it click (prompting the question of why he was sticking with it). At Leeds, he went much further with a stream of petulant comments, hinting at serious friction behind the scenes. Here’s the strongest of them:
In response to him being asked if levels of internal support were wavering:
🗣️ “I noticed you receive selective information about everything. I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United. That is clear.”
🗣️ “It’s going to be like this for 18 months, or when the board decide to change. I want to finish with that. I’m not going to quit. I will do my job until another guy is coming here to replace me.”
🗣️ “In every department, the scouting department, the sporting director (director of football Jason Wilcox) needs to do their job. I will do mine for 18 months and then we move on.”
Amorim’s contract ran to the end of the 2026-27 season — and there is no clause to enable a discounted exit, meaning United will have to pay up his contract in full.
The idea that the club would gladly allow him to muddle forward for another 18 months and “then move on” was laughable. Football doesn’t work like that. Coaching doesn’t work like that. And today, The Athletic broke the news that United were pulling the plug.
End for Ratcliffe’s vow of three years
In the background at Old Trafford was the promise, rashly made by minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe, that Amorim would get three years as head coach. No matter what, Ratcliffe said in October, Amorim’s deal was going to run its course.
That might have sounded bold and equivocal but the weakness in the plan was that no coach or manager simply ‘gets’ three years in the Premier League. Results become untenable. Relationships falter. Sticking out a contract to the bitter end is the equivalent of Custer’s last stand, and no strategy at all.
Results under Amorim were so-so at best. They couldn’t string wins together from one week to the next and when it came to the crunch of the Europa League final last season, they went missing. He was right in saying that United don’t have the resources to fit his favoured formation — but also guilty of labouring that formation regardless. United are sixth in the Premier League, on the coattails of the top four. Watching them play, it’s hard to understand how.
From day one, Amorim and United were an unstable match. The club’s dysfunction and lack of alignment aren’t good for anybody. His PR and his football did nothing to keep the peace either. There were points before now when United could have ditched him — and the expense of paying him off notwithstanding, they might as well have done so.
📲 Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher is taking charge of United in the interim. Stay in touch with all the latest news and updates in the wake of Amorim’s sacking via our live blog. It’s going to be busy…
Around the grounds: Chelsea salvage draw with Man City as Rosenior arrives…
In some ways, the state of United is comparable to events at Chelsea, where a breakdown in the relationship between them and Enzo Maresca led to Maresca’s impromptu exit last week. When a flush is busted (or feels like it’s busted), people don’t beat around the bush.
Liam Rosenior, the Strasbourg boss and first choice to replace Maresca, is now in London to discuss the vacancy at Chelsea. Negotiations shouldn’t be complicated – the same owners run both clubs – and Rosenior isn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Chelsea’s season is salvageable after all. Enzo Fernandez’s wonderfully scrappy equaliser in the 94th minute at Manchester City yesterday showed they have fight left in them.
An added bonus was the 97th-minute equaliser from Harrison Reed which gave Fulham a 2-2 draw with Liverpool, keeping Liverpool in Chelsea’s eyeline. Liverpool thought they’d won it when Cody Gakpo scored moments earlier. Reed’s immense top-corner finish, above, was like hitting a postage stamp with a dart from the other side of the street. Strike of the season, Dan Sheldon asks? I’d say so.
News round-up
- Gary O’Neil entering talks for the Strasbourg job is the clearest signal ever that Rosenior to Chelsea is not far off a done deal.
- Sergio Ramos is fronting an offer to buy Spanish side Sevilla. The ex-Spain and Real Madrid defender — currently a free agent after leaving Monterrey in Mexico — has teamed up with foreign investors to launch a bid worth £348m ($469m).
- West Ham United are standing by Nuno Espirito Santo after their woeful 3-0 defeat to a previously winless Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. Nuno’s squad are in a world of trouble, four points from safety in the Premier League.
- Neymar looks like he will be sticking around at Santos in Brazil, as he holds out hope of a World Cup call-up. The 33-year-old is set to sign a new contract through to the end of 2026.
- They’ve not been entirely on the same page, but Xabi Alonso spoke up for Vinicius Junior after the Brazilian was jeered by Real Madrid’s fans during a 5-1 victory over Real Betis. Vinicius Jr hasn’t scored in any of his last 15 appearances.
- Riqui Puig’s Major League Soccer campaign could be over before it’s started. The LA Galaxy star is to undergo knee surgery, putting his 2026 availability in doubt. He missed the whole of 2025 after an ACL operation.
- Is Harvey Elliott destined for MLS? Charlotte FC are among the teams keen to move on the midfielder if Aston Villa cut short his failed loan from Liverpool.
Keeping calm: Garcia pulls off masterclass despite rat threat
Espanyol are the lesser of Barcelona’s La Liga clubs, at least in terms of reputation and honours. They’re proud, though, and when Joan Garcia walked out on them to join Barca last summer, their fanbase was none too pleased.
“Walked out on” is a little strong. Barca paid £21.7m ($29.3m) for the goalkeeper, and other men have crossed the city divide from Espanyol before. Garcia, however, was the first in 31 years and there was no red carpet laid out for him when he went back to his former team on Saturday.
Espanyol anticipated such an incendiary atmosphere that away fans were banned. Netting was strung up behind both goals because plans were afoot for Espanyol supporters to throw rats — stuffed or real, whichever they could acquire — at Garcia. Some printed fake banknotes with his face on them.
Garcia stepped into the cauldron and produced the performance of his life, including a save from Pere Milla, above, which I can’t get enough of. In essence, Espanyol 0-2 Barca was Espanyol 0-1 Garcia — and the mark of a great player.
Around TAFC
- If you want to know how Brazil won the last World Cup held in the U.S. — shedding their traditional free-flowing flair to dominate the 1994 edition — Michael Cox has the answers. Romario was such a baller.
- It’s going horribly, horribly wrong for Wilfried Nancy at Celtic. They imploded in the second half of Saturday’s Old Firm derby and there were protests outside afterwards. Michael Walker has the latest after a toxic afternoon.
- Brentford versus Spurs on New Year’s Day was such a shocker that our editorial desk asked us to pick out the worst games we’ve ever seen in the flesh. Mine was the 2003 Champions League final — so bad that I can’t remember a single thing that happened in it.
- Friday’s quiz answer: the players with the most goals-plus-assists in the Premier League in 1996, 2006 and 2016 were Alan Shearer (1996, 25 goals and eight assists), Thierry Henry (2006, 23 goals and eight assists), and Diego Costa (2016, 21 goals and 10 assists).
- Most clicked in Friday’s TAFC: Maresca’s Chelsea exit.
Catch a match
(Selected games)
AFCON last 16: Egypt vs Benin, 11am/4pm; Nigeria vs Mozambique, 2pm/7pm — both beIN Sports, Fubo, Fanatiz/Channel 4.
Championship: Leicester City vs West Bromwich Albion, 3pm/8pm — CBS, Paramount+/Sky Sports.
And finally…
YouTube / @OlympiqueLyonnais
Monaco’s Mamadou Coulibaly spent Saturday evening redefining the meaning of high feet. Having scored during the first half of a 3-1 defeat to Lyon, he marred the second by poleaxing Lyon’s Nicolas Tagliafico with a kick so brutal it would have flattened a rhino. Despite his best efforts to feign injury, Coulibaly got his marching orders. Repent at leisure, my friend.