The lights at Old Trafford dimmed a little darker this morning as Manchester United confirmed what had become inevitable: Ruben Amorim’s ill-fated experiment had reached its conclusion. Fourteen months. Sixty-three matches. Twenty-four victories. A tenure that promised revolution delivered only regression, culminating in United’s worst Premier League campaign in living memory and a breakdown so complete that it ended not with a whimper, but with an explosive press conference that sealed his fate.
When Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox informed the 40-year-old Portuguese tactician of his dismissal this morning, they were merely rubber-stamping what the numbers had been screaming for months: this simply wasn’t working. In fact, it was historically, statistically, and demonstrably not working.
The Numbers Don’t Lie: A Record-Breaking Failure
Let us begin with the brutal arithmetic that ultimately condemned Amorim. His record at Manchester United reads like a litany of unwanted milestones, each one more damning than the last.
Final Statistics:
- Overall Record: 24 wins, 18 draws, 21 losses (63 matches)
- Win Percentage: 38.1% (worst of any United manager since Ferguson bar interim boss Ralf Rangnick)
- Premier League Record: 15 wins, 13 draws, 19 defeats (47 matches)
- Premier League Win Rate: 31.9% (catastrophically below any permanent manager in the club’s history)
- Points Per Game: 1.23 in the Premier League (worst in the Premier League era)
- 15th Place Finish: United’s lowest league position since the 1973-74 season when they were relegated
To contextualize just how seismic this failure was, David Moyes—long considered the benchmark for post-Ferguson disappointment—achieved a 50% win rate in the Premier League despite his brief, troubled tenure. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer managed 51.4%. Erik ten Hag, sacked just weeks before Amorim’s arrival, delivered 51.8%. Even Rangnick, thrust into an interim role with a dysfunctional squad, managed 37.9%.
Amorim didn’t just fall short of these standards. He obliterated them in the wrong direction.
The 2024-25 season will be etched in United’s history as an unmitigated disaster. Finishing 15th in the Premier League represented United’s worst-ever finish in the competition, missing out on European football entirely after losing 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final—a match that encapsulated everything wrong with Amorim’s approach.
Manchester United, a club that had never finished outside the top seven since the Premier League’s inception in 1992-93, scraped together just 45 points across the entire campaign. To put this in perspective, that’s fewer points than they accumulated in any season under David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
This season hasn’t offered much respite either. Despite sitting sixth after 20 matches—a position that sounds respectable until you realize it’s largely because traditional rivals have sold off their best players—United have won only eight of their 20 league games, maintaining that grim trajectory toward mediocrity.
The Post-Ferguson Comparison: Bottom of the Pile
Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, Manchester United have cycled through six permanent managers before Amorim, each bringing their own style, philosophy, and ultimately, their own failure. But Amorim’s tenure stands alone in its comprehensive inadequacy.
Post-Ferguson Managers Ranked by Premier League Win Percentage:
- Jose Mourinho – 58.3% (93 matches) – 2 major trophies
- Erik ten Hag – 51.8% (85 matches) – 2 trophies
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 51.4% (109 matches) – 0 trophies
- Louis van Gaal – 51.3% (76 matches) – 1 trophy
- David Moyes – 50.0% (34 matches) – 0 trophies
- Ralf Rangnick – 37.9% (24 matches) – Interim
- Ruben Amorim – 31.9% (47 matches) – 0 trophies
The comparison is devastating. Even accounting for inherited squad issues—a defense mechanism Amorim himself eventually refused to deploy—the Portuguese coach’s numbers represent an institutional low point. His longest winning streak was just three matches, achieved twice during his tenure, a metric that speaks to United’s chronic inability to build momentum under his stewardship.
What makes this particularly damning is context. Mourinho arrived and immediately won two trophies in his first season while implementing his pragmatic style. Van Gaal, for all his turgid football, won the FA Cup and at least provided organizational structure. Ten Hag captured two domestic cups despite inheriting a mess. Solskjaer, trophy-less as he was, at least delivered consecutive top-four finishes and the club’s best football in the post-Ferguson era.
Ruben Amorim? He delivered none of the above. Zero silverware. No top-four finish. No European football. Unseen discernible progress. Just a stubborn adherence to a system that clearly wasn’t working and an increasingly desperate search for answers that never came.
The Tactical Straitjacket: The 3-4-3 Obsession
If there’s one element that will define Amorim’s tenure above all others, it’s his inflexible commitment to the 3-4-3 formation that brought him success at Sporting CP but proved catastrophic at Old Trafford.
Sky Sports News reported that Amorim’s ‘refusal to adapt and evolve his preferred 3-4-3 system led to a breakdown in confidence in the head coach’ among the club’s hierarchy. This wasn’t just a tactical preference; it became an existential crisis.
In September 2025, in what now reads as darkly comedic, Amorim declared that “not even the Pope” could change his approach to the game. The hubris of that statement would come back to haunt him as United’s results spiraled and critics—from pundits to former players—questioned his tactical rigidity.
The system required specific players in specific roles: natural wing-backs with exceptional stamina, center-backs comfortable in possession, and mobile strikers who could press high. United’s squad, cobbled together over multiple managerial tenures with different philosophies, possessed few of these attributes. Rather than adapt the system to the players, Amorim attempted to force square pegs into round holes.
The consequences were brutal. United became predictable, easy to play against, and toothless in attack. The team scored just 44 league goals in 2024-25, their lowest recorded total since 1973-74 when they were relegated. In the modern era, with elite attacking talent supposedly at his disposal, Amorim managed to make United the most anemic attacking side in their recent history.
Set-pieces became a nightmare. Nine of the 19 goals United conceded under Amorim in one stretch came from set-pieces, including the mortifying sight of Andre Onana being beaten directly from a corner by Wolves’ Matheus Cunha in December 2024. The defensive frailties that the three-man backline was supposedly designed to address instead became more pronounced.
When Amorim finally relented—experimenting with a back four against Newcastle on Boxing Day 2024 and briefly against Bournemouth in December 2025—it felt less like tactical evolution and more like desperation. Against Wolves, he reverted to the back three, a move Gary Neville described as “backwards”, and the indecision betrayed a coach who had lost his way.
The Highs: Fleeting Moments in a Sea of Mediocrity
To construct a balanced account requires acknowledging that Amorim’s tenure wasn’t an unrelenting parade of misery. There were moments—brief, tantalizing glimpses—of what might have been.
The Anfield Triumph (October 2025)
On October 20, Amorim coached United to their first away win at Anfield against Liverpool since 2016, emerging victorious 2-1. It was a statement result, the kind that makes careers. United defended resolutely, attacked with purpose, and for 90 minutes looked like a team that understood its identity.
The victory, coupled with wins against Sunderland and Brighton, earned Amorim the Premier League Manager of the Month award for October—the first United manager to win the accolade since Ten Hag in November 2023. For a few glorious weeks, it appeared the Portuguese had cracked the code.
The December Derby (2024)
On December 15, Amorim became the first Manchester United manager to win his first Manchester derby since Sir Alex Ferguson, securing a 2-1 away victory against Manchester City. At a time when Pep Guardiola’s side were showing cracks, United exploited them expertly. The performance offered hope that Amorim could navigate the tactical chess matches against elite opposition.
The Europa League Exploits
While domestic form cratered, United’s Europa League campaign provided occasional respite. Comprehensive victories over Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, plus a dramatic extra-time triumph against Lyon, demonstrated that Amorim could prepare his team for one-off occasions. The run to the final, though ultimately futile, at least provided European nights to remember.
Early Promise
His start wasn’t entirely disastrous. After a 1-1 draw in his debut against Ipswich, Amorim secured his first Premier League win with a 4-0 demolition of Everton at Old Trafford, with Marcus Rashford—whom he would later ostracize—scoring twice. The early weeks featured an initial three-game unbeaten streak and suggestions that United had finally found a modern, progressive coach.
But therein lies the tragedy of the Amorim era: these highs were aberrations rather than indicators. For every Anfield victory, there were three humiliating defeats. For every glimpse of promise, a longer stretch of mediocrity followed. The good days made the bad days more painful because they proved United possessed the talent to compete; they simply weren’t being organized to do so consistently.
The Lows: A Catalog of Humiliations
If the highs were fleeting, the lows were plentiful, prolonged, and progressively more embarrassing.
The Grimsby Town Debacle (August 2025)
On August 27, 2025, United exited the EFL Cup against League Two side Grimsby Town, losing 12-11 on penalties after a 2-2 draw, with Grimsby leading 2-0 at halftime. A LEAGUE TWO side. The humiliation was total. For a club of United’s stature and resources to be eliminated by fourth-tier opposition encapsulated everything wrong with the team’s mentality and preparation.
The Brighton Mauling (January 2025)
A 3-1 home defeat to Brighton left United 13th in the table with 26 points. It was after this game that Amorim declared his team “maybe the worst team” in Manchester United’s entire history—a statement simultaneously honest and utterly damning. The loss marked United’s sixth home Premier League defeat of the season, their most from their opening 12 home matches of a league campaign since 1893-94.
The West Ham Heartbreak (April 2025)
West Ham beat United 2-0 at Old Trafford, breaking an 18-year streak of not losing to the Hammers at home. The performance was devoid of quality, fight, or tactical coherence. Another unwanted record, another afternoon of Old Trafford emptying early as disillusioned fans headed for the exits.
The Newcastle Embarrassment (December 2024)
A 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle made it four consecutive losses and prompted soul-searching from Amorim. It wasn’t just the result but the manner: lifeless, rudderless, tactically naive. This was when murmurs about his job security first became roars.
The Everton Ignominy (November 2025)
Perhaps the nadir. United lost 1-0 at home to ten-man Everton, having an hour to break down a depleted opponent and failing completely. The team resorted to optimistic crosses—38 of them—leaving Old Trafford booing. The lack of a Plan B was laid bare for all to see.
The Tottenham Heartbreak (May 2025)
The 1-0 Europa League final defeat to Tottenham—who themselves finished 17th in the league—cost United Champions League qualification and any silverware. United dominated possession, created chances, but couldn’t score. Like against Everton, they had no plan to break down a deep defense. The tactical inadequacy that plagued the season crystallized in the biggest game.
The Wolves Corner Catastrophe (December 2024)
United lost to Wolves as Onana conceded directly from Matheus Cunha’s corner, one of the most embarrassing goals ever conceded at Old Trafford. The defeat encapsulated the defensive chaos and lack of set-piece organization that became hallmarks of Amorim’s reign.
Running through these lows is a common thread: tactical inflexibility, mental fragility, and an inability to respond when opponents made adjustments. United became easy to play against, predictable in their patterns, and vulnerable to any team willing to sit deep and counter.
The Breaking Point: “I’m Not the Coach, I’m the Manager”
The final act of the Amorim tragedy unfolded across two press conferences that showcased a manager who had lost control, lost patience, and ultimately, lost the faith of those above him.
On Friday, January 3rd, ahead of the Leeds match, Amorim revealed his frustration at a lack of movement in the January transfer window during a press conference. In a scheduled meeting with director of football Jason Wilcox, where the team’s tactical approach was discussed in detail, United’s bosses felt Amorim’s response was very negative and emotional.
The frustration boiled over after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Leeds. In a stunning press conference, Amorim publicly challenged the club’s hierarchy, insisting he was hired as “manager, not the coach,” and implored Wilcox and others to “do your jobs.” The comments were an unprecedented public rebuke of United’s structure.
“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,” Amorim said. “And it’s going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decides to change, so that was my point. 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.”
The defiance was remarkable. The self-awareness was absent. Amorim seemed oblivious to the fact that his results had forfeited him any moral authority to make demands. You don’t get to publicly dress down your employers when you’re presiding over the worst campaign in half a century.
Within 24 hours, the club acted. Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox were involved in the decision, which was also taken with the knowledge of the club’s ownership. The announcement came Monday morning: Ruben Amorim was no longer Manchester United’s head coach.
What Went Wrong: A Post-Mortem
How did it come to this? How did one of Europe’s most exciting young coaches, fresh from consecutive titles at Sporting CP and a perfect 11-game start to Sporting’s 2024-25 campaign, crash and burn so spectacularly?
- The Wrong System for the Wrong Squad
Amorim’s 3-4-3 worked wonders at Sporting because he had years to recruit players who fit it. At United, he inherited a squad built for a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, with wingers, not wing-backs, and defenders uncomfortable in a three. Rather than gradually transition, he demanded immediate adherence. The mismatch was fatal.
- Tactical Rigidity Masquerading as Principle
There’s a difference between having a clear philosophy and being dogmatically inflexible. Amorim crossed that line repeatedly. Great managers adapt; they find solutions within their principles. As one Sky Sports analyst noted, “Stubbornness forms the very basis of where many fans will feel Amorim got it wrong”.
- Personnel Decisions that Backfired
The decision to keep Bruno Fernandes when he had an offer to move to Saudi Arabia proved catalytic to Amorim’s demise, according to analysis, as the captain represented an era Amorim needed to move beyond but couldn’t. Meanwhile, promising players like Kobbie Mainoo were misused, Marcus Rashford was exiled, and the treatment of established stars created unnecessary friction.
- The Weight of History and Expectation
Perhaps Amorim simply wasn’t ready for the intensity and scrutiny of managing Manchester United. At Sporting, he had time, patience, and a clear structure. At United, every decision is dissected, every defeat magnified. As one assessment noted, “The first manager to win a trophy at United since Ferguson, Louis van Gaal steadied the ship somewhat after Moyes’ tenure ended poorly,” suggesting that even modest success requires resilience Amorim lacked.
- The Breakdown Behind the Scenes
Club sources reported “emotional and inconsistent behavior” from Amorim, and tension between him and Wilcox over transfer strategy and tactical autonomy ultimately proved irreconcilable. Modern football management requires collaboration with sporting directors and recruitment teams. Amorim appeared to want Fergie-era omnipotence in a structure that no longer supports it.
The Legacy: Cautionary Tale
What will history remember of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United tenure? The numbers, certainly—those damning, irrefutable statistics that mark this as the club’s post-Ferguson nadir. The stubbornness, undoubtedly—that frustrating refusal to evolve that ultimately cost him his job.
But perhaps the most enduring legacy will be as a cautionary tale about the danger of importing success without understanding context. What worked at Sporting CP, where Amorim had complete control and years to build, couldn’t simply be transplanted to Old Trafford, where the pressure is suffocating and patience is a luxury no manager enjoys.
Amorim’s 14-month stint is now the shortest reign of a permanent manager at United since David Moyes was sacked just eight months into his tenure in 2014. That he lasted longer than Moyes is only because the club, scarred by years of managerial churn, tried desperately to give him time. The patience was commendable; the results were not.
There’s something tragic about how this unfolded. Amorim is clearly intelligent, articulate, and at Sporting, proved himself a top-class tactician. But at United, he was a man trying to force a philosophy onto a situation that demanded flexibility. He was Diego Simeone trying to manage Barcelona, or Pep Guardiola attempting to coach Atletico Madrid. The mismatch doomed him from the start.
The question now, as Darren Fletcher takes interim charge and the club eyes a summer rebuild, is whether United have learned anything from this debacle. This is their sixth managerial change since Ferguson retired. Six permanent appointments. Six failures, each distinct but united by the same common denominator: Manchester United’s structural and cultural problems run far deeper than any one coach can fix.
Amorim arrived promising a revolution. He delivered regression. Amorim spoke of building an identity but instead created confusion. He demanded respect but earned derision. And this morning, after one petulant press conference too many and one poor result too far, he became the latest casualty in the graveyard of post-Ferguson dreams.
The numbers don’t lie. The 38.1% win rate tells the story more eloquently than any words could. Ruben Amorim came to Manchester United as one of Europe’s brightest young managers. He leaves with his reputation in tatters and his team in sixth place, having presided over the worst campaign in living memory.
It didn’t have to be this way. But stubbornness, miscalculation, and a fundamental misreading of what the job required ensured that it was. Another name added to the post-Ferguson roll of dishonor; experiment failed; reset required.
As the saying goes, those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Manchester United have now had fourteen months to learn from the Ruben Amorim experience. One hopes, for their sake, that they’ve been taking notes.
