It took 19 hours. That's all.
From the moment Ruben Amorim sat down in front of the microphones at Elland Road on Sunday evening to the official announcement of his dismissal on Monday morning, Manchester United's hierarchy had seen enough. The 1-1 draw against Leeds wasn't what killed his tenure. It was everything that came after.
A press conference for the ages
"I know my name is not Conte, Tuchel, or Mourinho, but I'm the manager of Manchester United," Amorim said, his voice steady but loaded with frustration. "I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach."
Those words landed like a grenade in the boardroom. According to Sky Sports News, club sources described Amorim's behaviour at a meeting with director of football Jason Wilcox on Friday as "negative and emotional." The Leeds press conference, where he told the scouting department and sporting director to "do their job," was the culmination of weeks of simmering tension.
David Ornstein of The Athletic broke the news first on Monday morning: "Manchester United sack Ruben Amorim as head coach. 40-year-old Portuguese informed of decision and goes with immediate effect after 14 months following breakdown in relations."
The numbers don't lie — and they're brutal
Strip away the drama, and what remains is a statistical indictment.
Amorim won just 24 of his 63 matches in charge. His win percentage of 38.1% is the worst of any permanent Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. In the Premier League alone, it drops to 32% — 15 wins from 47 games.
His average of 1.23 points per game is the lowest in the club's Premier League history. Even Ralf Rangnick, who was only ever interim, managed 1.54.
Last season was catastrophic: 15th place, the club's lowest finish since 1989/90. They scraped just 42 points — their worst tally in the top flight since relegation in 1973/74. The Europa League final loss to Tottenham in Bilbao, where Brennan Johnson's winner condemned United to no European football this season, felt like the final indignity. Except it wasn't.
Fletcher steps in — and there's a family twist
Darren Fletcher, the 41-year-old former United midfielder now coaching the under-18s, has been handed the reins on an interim basis. His first match will be Wednesday's trip to Burnley.
Here's the detail that tells you everything about the state of this football club: Fletcher's twin sons, Jack and Tyler, both 18, have been around the first-team squad in recent weeks. They could feasibly feature under their own father.
It's the sort of story that would feel heartwarming anywhere else. At United, it just underlines how thin the squad is, with injuries and Africa Cup of Nations absences gutting Amorim's options throughout his tenure.
What Amorim got wrong
The 3-4-3 system became a running joke. Amorim arrived from Sporting Lisbon with a reputation built on this formation, but he refused to adapt when it clearly wasn't working. Club sources told ESPN they were "fully aligned" with him on transfer strategy — but his public comments suggested otherwise.
There was the Bruno Fernandes situation, too. In the summer, the captain had an offer from Saudi Arabia worth around £100m. Amorim reportedly pushed to keep him. Whether that was the right call is now a question for his successor.
The Portuguese never seemed comfortable in the job. He warned early on that things would "get worse before they got better." He was half right.
Where do United go from here?
Reports suggest United may wait until summer to appoint a permanent replacement. In the meantime, the club sits sixth — 17 points behind leaders Arsenal after 20 games — with a squad in desperate need of reinforcement.
Co-owner Jim Ratcliffe had said in October that Amorim "needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years." Three years became 14 months.
One of Amorim's final comments at Leeds feels almost prophetic now: "I'm not going to quit. I will do my job until another guy is coming here to replace me."
He didn't have to wait long.
