Just under 14 months into his time at Manchester United, Ruben Amorim was dismissed as head coach.
A tenure marked with inconsistent performances, emotional outbursts and historically bad results ended after a 1-1 draw with Leeds United and a public insinuation that he was not being fully supported behind the scenes.
In many respects, it is remarkable that things lasted as long as they did. Amorim's inability to improve performances, coupled with his regular criticism of his players and the wider club's operations, left many people assuming there was only one way this relationship would end.
Below, AllSportsPeople looks at the timeline of Amorim's turbulent spell at Old Trafford, and how things went from bad to worse and back again.
How did Manchester United perform across Ruben Amorim's reign as boss? Pic.twitter.com/erE0R3Uw8J
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 5, 2026
MORE: Why Man United sacked Ruben Amorim | Amorim's dreadful record in England
Ruben Amorim timeline at Man United: Key moments in charge
November 1, 2024
Amorim was announced as the next man in charge at United on November 1, 2024, signing a three-year deal. He was specifically appointed as head coach, not manager, in a reflection of the change to the sporting set-up under INEOS. His time in charge would end with him insisting in a press conference that he had joined the club to be "manager, not coach."
MORE: Amorim's post-Leeds rant in full, one day before United exit
Amorim's first game in charge ended in a 1-1 draw away to Ipswich Town on November 11. Marcus Rashford scored in the second minute, but Omari Hutchinson equalised for the hosts. United lined up in a 3-4-3. Four days later, they beat Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League to give Amorim his first win.
December 2024
United started the month with a 4-0 win over Everton, their first in the Premier League under Amorim. After the match, the Portuguese said "the storm will come". They lost their next two games to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest, then beat Viktoria Plzen away. On December 15, they beat Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium, with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho dropped from the squad after being left unimpressed by their application. They then ended the year with four straight defeats.
January 2025
After battling to beat struggling Southampton, United lost 3-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion. After the game, Amorim described his team as arguably the worst in the entire history of the club. He added: "I'm not naive and I know that we need to survive now." They won just four more league games all season.
It also became clear that Rashford, who joined Aston Villa on loan until the end of the season, had no way back into his plans. Amorim claimed he would start his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach over "a player that doesn't give the maximum every day".
May 2025
Amorim oversaw a chaotic run to the final of the Europa League, where they faced Tottenham, who would go on to finish 17th in the league after a similarly miserable campaign. The chance to win a trophy in Bilbao, and qualify for the Champions League, offered Amorim the chance to salvage something from his first six months in charge. United lost 1-0. Afterwards, Amorim said: "If the board and the fans feel I'm not the right guy, I will go in the next day without any conversation about compensation... But I will not quit again."
MORE: How the (largely terrible) Europa League final played out
United finished the season in 15th in the Premier League after beating Aston Villa 2-0 on the final day. After the game, Amorim addressed the Old Trafford crowd, saying: "Six months ago, in my first three games in charge, with two victories and one draw, I said to you the storm is coming. Today, after this disastrous season, I want to tell you the good days are coming."
August 2025
United spent a little over £200 million in the summer transfer window to rebuild their forward line with Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo, and added goalkeeper Senne Lammens. Rashford was loaned to Barcelona, and Alejandro Garnacho sold to Chelsea, having been told they had no future in his team.
73 - Among players to have scored at least two goals in the Premier League in the last two seasons, the player with the best minutes per goal ratio under a manager is Marcus Rashford under Rúben Amorim (3 in 220 minutes, 73 mins per goal). Discarded. Pic.twitter.com/XFpCuajS6Y
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 5, 2026
They started the 2025/26 season with a 1-0 home loss to Arsenal and were largely praised for a good performance. They followed this with a draw at Fulham, and then a penalty-shootout loss to League Two Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup, during which Amorim was criticised not just for the display, but for sitting in the dugout using a tactics board with magnetic counters and then for refusing to watch the penalties. "I think my players are talking really loud about what they want, so I'm really sorry to our fans, I have nothing to say anymore," he said afterwards.
Two days later, prior to a battling win at home to Burnley, he said: "Sometimes I want to quit, sometimes I want to be here for 20 years... Sometimes I love to be with my players, sometimes I don't want to be with them. So, again, I need to improve on that. It's going to be hard."
September 2025
After the Burnley win, United were beaten 3-0 by City in the derby, then defeated Chelsea 2-1, then lost 3-1 to Brentford. During this latest topsy-turvy run, he insisted that "not even the Pope" could make him deviate from the back-three system that was being continually scrutinised. He began to grow frustrated with continued questions about the future of Kobbie Mainoo, who was denied a loan move away in August after losing his place in the team.
Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said Amorim had been "a disaster" and that there was only one way things would end. Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe gave an interview saying Amorim needed three years to prove himself.
October 2025
United beat Sunderland 2-0 at home, then snatched a 2-1 win at Anfield thanks to a late Harry Maguire header. It was their first away win over Liverpool in nearly a decade, and it marked the first time they had won back-to-back league matches under Amorim. A third-straight win followed at home to Brighton, after which Amorim won the Premier League Manager of the Month award.
November 2025
United's winning run ended at Nottingham Forest, but they did at least ensure a point after throwing away a 1-0 lead. They also salvaged a draw at Tottenham after looking destined for a 2-1 defeat. On a five-game unbeaten run and with a sense of positivity building, United lost 1-0 at home to Everton, who played for 80 minutes a man down after Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping teammate Michael Keane. Amorim suggested he had seen it coming even while others praised United's form. "These five weeks, everyone is praising our evolution. I'm always saying the same things," he said. "We are not even near what we're supposed to be in this club."
December 2025
By this point, United's matchgoing fans had largely given up singing the Ruben Amorim song. It was hard to know what would come next, after all: they won at Crystal Palace, drew with struggling West Ham, beat Wolves 4-1, drew 4-4 with Bournemouth, then lost at Aston Villa despite probably producing their best performance in a month.
At home to Newcastle on December 26, Amorim finally switched to a back four amid an injury crisis and the loss of Mbeumo, Amad Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui to AFCON duties. They clung on for a 1-0 win. Four days later, Amorim reverted to a back three to match the approach of Wolves, who had taken two points from 18 games all season. United were arguably fortunate to get a draw, and they were booed off by the Old Trafford crowd — and not for the first time.
January 2026
Their first game of the new year, and Amorim's last in the job, was a 1-1 draw at Leeds. The result, and performance, was reasonably good, and yet Amorim quickly ensured the focus was firmly on him.
Having looked downbeat before the match as he suggested there would be little transfer activity, Amorim launched into a strange, impassioned post-game speech. He told a press conference that he had signed on to be United's manager, "not just coach", said more than once that he would leave when his contract expired unless the board chose to sack him, urged the "scouting department" and "sporting director" to "do their jobs", then left the room. Less than 24 hours later, United said he had been relieved of duties because decision makers had not seen enough signs of progress on the pitch.