Ruben Amorim sacked live: German coach a surprise candidate as Man United draw up new manager shortlist

6) Brentford 3-1 Man Utd – September 27, 2025

Shambolic defending was at the heart of another miserable United show. Maguire was twice caught trying to play offside as Igor Thiago’s brace put Brentford in command.

Benjamin Sesko halved the deficit with his first goal since making a £74m summer move from RB Leipzig, but there was no reprieve for United as Fernandes missed his second penalty in a month.

Mathias Jensen wrapped it up for the Bees in stoppage time as Amorim’s bid to win successive league games for the first time after 10 months in charge was destroyed.

5) Grimsby 2-2 Man Utd (Grimsby won 12-11 on pens) – August 27, 2025 (Carabao Cup)

Fresh optimism was washed away by the Humber as League Two Grimsby produced one of the biggest shocks in cup history.

Amorim was lampooned for getting a tactics board out on the touchline as the Mariners took a 2-0 lead through Charles Vernam and Tyrell Warren, who punished a dreadful Andre Onana error.

United levelled through Bryan Mbeumo and Harry Maguire but lost an extraordinary penalty shoot-out 12-11, as Grimsby fans taunted Amorim with “sacked in the morning” chants.

4) Newcastle 4-1 Man Utd – April 13, 2025 (Premier League)

Amorim gave Turkey goalkeeper Altay Bayindir his top-flight chance after deciding to take Onana out of the firing line following high-profile errors against Lyon in the Europa League.

But the move backfired as Bayindir conceded with the first shot he faced and was culpable for giving the ball away as Bruno Guimaraes scored Newcastle’s fourth.

In total, Bayindir was beaten four times from six shots and captain Fernandes reflected that “this club has never suffered like this”.

3) Wolves 2-0 Man Utd – December 26, 2024 (Premier League)

If Amorim was seeking an instant response from the Bournemouth mess he was disappointed at Molineux as Wolves delivered a knockout punch on Boxing Day.

Matheus Cunha, who would join United the following summer, became the second player in three games to score directly from a corner against his team, the ball sailing over Andre Onana’s head.

Hwang Hee-chan sealed matters on an abject night for United that saw captain Bruno Fernandes sent off for the third time in the campaign.

2) Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth – December 22, 2024 (Premier League)

“Everything is so hard,” was Amorim’s assessment after United were beaten at home by Bournemouth for the second successive season and the Old Trafford faithful had booed his team off.

Goals from Dean Huijsen, Justin Kluivert and Antoine Semenyo left Amorim with just seven points from six games in charge.

Amorim had reflected on his first game at Ipswich a month earlier – a 1-1 draw – by saying, “We will suffer for a long period”, but the sound of alarm bells going off was deafening.

1) Tottenham 1-0 Man Utd, May 21, 2025 (Europa League final)

Bilbao – the defining match of the Ruben Amorim era.

Win and the Champions League awaited with a £100m windfall. Lose and there would be no European football the following season.

In a low-quality Battle of Britain clash against Tottenham at San Mames Stadium, United were dreadful in losing 1-0 to a scruffy Brennan Johnson goal.

Amorim raised eyebrows by leaving Alejandro Garnacho on the bench until the final 20 minutes, as United dominated possession but created few clear-cut chances.

Mourinho also won the most trophies of any manager since Ferguson, with a League Cup and Europa League double in 2016-17 having opened that season with the Community Shield.

Erik ten Hag won both domestic cups, Louis van Gaal won an FA Cup and David Moyes another Community Shield.

Amorim lost exactly a third of his matches overall, the worst of any permanent United manager since Frank O’Farrell in the early 1970s.

Since Ferguson, who won 26 major trophies in 27 years at Old Trafford and had a 59.7 per cent win ratio, United have struggled to find a long-term figurehead.

Ferguson took charge of 1,500 games with United. In 697 games since he retired in 2013, the club have had six permanent managers, plus Rangnick and caretakers Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Jose Mourinho has the best win percentage of those permanent managers with 58.3 per cent, 84 out of 144 games.

Arriving to much hype after a spectacular reign at Sporting CP, Amorim failed to inspire a change of fortunes in his 14 months at United and instead oversaw a drastic decline in results.