6 January, 2026
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 United 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 Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down in 2013.
Man United must go big with next manager after firing Amorim
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.
