Manchester United have sacked head coach Ruben Amorim, the Premier League club said on Monday, a day after they were held to a 1-1 draw by relegation-threatened Leeds United.
“With Manchester United sitting sixth in the Premier League, the club’s leadership has reluctantly made the decision that it is the right time to make a change. This will give the team the best opportunity of the highest possible Premier League finish,” the club said in a statement.
United are sixth in the table after 20 games and are 17 points behind leaders Arsenal. They are three points off a Champions League place but have won only one of their last five league matches and just three of their past 11.
Amorim, 40, was appointed in November 2024 and departs 14 months after arriving at Old Trafford.
United said the Portuguese had left his role following the leadership’s decision to make a change. “The club would like to thank Ruben for his contribution to the club and wishes him well for the future. Darren Fletcher will take charge of the team against Burnley on Wednesday,” the statement added.
The decision came a day after Amorim delivered a defiant post-match press conference following the draw at Leeds, in which he bristled at questions about his job security and emphasised that he had come to United with full managerial authority.
He had appeared downbeat on Friday when discussing potential transfers and grew visibly irritated after Sunday’s match when pressed on whether he still had the board’s confidence.
The former Sporting coach cut off reporters with a sharp rebuke about “selective information” before launching into an emphatic defence of his position, making clear he had no intention of walking away from Old Trafford and repeatedly stressing the distinction between being a manager and merely a coach.
“I just want to say I came here to be the manager, not to be the coach,” Amorim said. I was really clear on that. That is going to finish in 18 months and then everyone is going to move on. That was the deal. That is my job. Not to be a coach. In every department - the scouting department, the sporting director – [they] need to do their job.”
Amorim also raised the names of several high-profile former Premier League managers to underline his frustration. “I know that my name is not [Thomas] Tuchel, it's not [Antonio] Conte, it's not [Jose] Mourinho, but I'm the manager of Manchester United,” he said.
“And it's going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decides to change. I'm not going to quit. I will do my job until another guy is coming here to replace me.”
He suggested the club had become overly sensitive to external criticism, referencing Sky Sports pundit and former United player Gary Neville. “If people cannot handle the Gary Nevilles and the criticisms of everything, we need to change the club,” Amorim said.
The Portuguese had been hinting for several weeks at growing dissatisfaction with what he viewed as interference from the club’s hierarchy.
He refused to clarify recent comments about transfer plans in the build-up to the Leeds match and acknowledged disagreements over recruitment, with tensions appearing to involve director of football Jason Wilcox as the January transfer window began.
During his time at United, Amorim led the club to the Europa League final in Bilbao in May, where they lost to Tottenham Hotspur.
However, last season United finished 15th in the Premier League, their lowest league finish since they were relegated in 1973–74 and their worst points tally in a top-flight campaign.
Amorim oversaw 63 matches in charge of Manchester United, recording 24 wins, 18 draws and 21 defeats for a win percentage of 38.1 per cent.
Less than 24 hours after insisting he would not walk away, Amorim was removed from his post, bringing an abrupt end to a turbulent tenure marked by on-field struggles and increasingly public friction behind the scenes.
