Gary Neville shocked by speed of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United exit
Ruben Amorim had the lowest win percentage – 31.9%– of the seven managers who have taken charge at Old Trafford since Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
Gary Neville insists the speed of Ruben Amorim’s departure from Manchester United came as a “shock” after the Portuguese was sacked on Monday morning.
Amorim leaves with United positioned sixth in the Premier League, Sunday’s draw at Leeds coming five days after a dismal 1-1 home stalemate against basement club Wolves.
The 40-year-old has the lowest win percentage – 31.9% – of the seven managers who have taken charge at Old Trafford since Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013.
Former United defender Neville told Sky Sports News: “When a manager is sacked, it’s a poor reflection on everybody. It means it’s not worked.
“Ultimately everyone loses, particularly when you are sacking a manager partway through the season. It’s very difficult to get an adequate replacement in.
“I am surprised it’s happened this morning, I’m not surprised it’s happened. I didn’t realise it would happen so quickly. I did think they’d get through another couple of weeks and try and work out what to do.
“But obviously it’s become that challenging internally that they decided to do it very quickly, which was a shock this morning when I heard the news at 10 o’clock.
“If you look at some of the performances in the last month, they’ve really been shocking. However, there have been some bright spots along the way.
“The Wolves game seems to me to be the killer game. It was a bad one, that.”
Former United centre-back Rio Ferdinand admits that while United’s record under Amorim has been disappointing, he did not expect him to leave so soon.
The 47-year-old told his Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel: “He wouldn’t have been on my first three or four or five people that I would have put as managers to get the sack right now in the league, so I am surprised.
“But when you look at his record in black and white, I’m not surprised, which is weird, and it sounds weird when I say that.”
Amorim’s explosive comments in his press conference after Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Leeds raised doubts over his own future by hinting at disharmony behind the scenes at Old Trafford.
He insisted he was the manager rather than head coach and urged United’s scouting department and sporting director to “do their job”.
Former United midfielder Paul Scholes feels Amorim “talked himself into it” by questioning the club’s hierarchy.
Scholes believes United should make an approach for England boss Thomas Tuchel after the World Cup to take up the Old Trafford hotseat.
“I think Tuchel is one of the very best out there,” Scholes said on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast with former United team-mate Nicky Butt.
“He would be my number one target – and his contract with England is only until the summer.
“I think he can be a bit temperamental and he could be quite difficult to handle, but he has done it at big clubs.”
Former England striker Gary Lineker said Amorim was the wrong man to manage a club that he described as a “basket case”.
“I think it was almost as though he provoked it,” Lineker told the Rest Is Football.
“It didn’t seem to be the right fit and he was a bit stubborn about the way he wanted to play. The players didn’t suit the way he plays and the club should have recognised that.
“I suspect they haven’t supported him in the sense of bringing in the players he would have wanted in certain positions.
“Also, it’s been bit of a basket case of a football club over the last few years.”
United defender Harry Maguire wished Amorim well on Instagram, posting a photo of the two of them clasping hands accompanied by the message: “Thank you for everything boss. I wish you all the best in the future.”
Maguire’s team-mate Bruno Fernandes also used social media to say farewell to the Portuguese. “Thank you, Mister! I wish you and your technical staff all the best,” he wrote on Instagram stories. Defender Matthijs de Ligt also said goodbye on Instagram.
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