Recently sacked Manchester United manager, Ruben Amorim, has been pictured smiling for the first time since the club announced his dismissal as head coach of the underperforming Premier League giants.
The 40-year-old Portuguese, according to Daily Mail Sport, was seen smiling alongside his wife Maria Joao Diogo as they stepped out of their Cheshire mansion on Monday afternoon, wearing huge grins beneath their sunglasses, just hours after losing his job.
United confirmed Amorim’s sacking on Monday morning, claiming that the club leadership reluctantly made the decision but maintained that “it is the right time to make a change. This will give the team the best opportunity of the highest possible Premier League finish.”
Although the decision was announced hours after Sunday’s explosive comments by Amorim during the post-match review of the disappointing 1-1 draw with rivals Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday, which all but confirmed tensions between the Portuguese and United Director of Football, Jason Wilcox, Daily Mail also reported that the decision to dismiss Amorim was taken by the United hierarchy two days before the Fulham match.
The 40-year-old was due £12 million in compensation if he were sacked before November 1, although it is unclear at this stage what his severance package will be. Insiders told Daily Mail Sport that he was seen leaving the training ground laughing and joking alongside his departing coaching staff on Monday morning.
Reacting to Amorim’s outburst, Simon Jordam suggested that the Portuguese was trying to get sacked so that he could get a huge payout.
“I listened to Amorim yesterday, and in conjunction with listening to Enzo Maresca, I didn’t think what he said was particularly controversial,” said Jordan.
“He was making a point about what role he felt he had to have, but asking people to do their jobs is not the same as telling people that ultimately he had the worst 48 hours of his life and hadn’t been supported. So I looked at it and thought it was deeply unprofessional, which is what these managers seem to exhibit too often these days. I thought Maresca was unprofessional [too].
“The idea that you can communicate with your people you work for through the media is unprofessional. You wouldn’t want your players going out and saying something dreadful about you as a manager. So why would you expect a manager to be able to say something to the hierarchy, the real power in the room, and expect to get away with it?
“When I listened to it, I thought: ‘Where are you going with this, what is your point here, and what are you trying to achieve?’ “I’m assuming what he was trying to achieve was to get fired and get paid. I’m assuming that’s what his outcome was. I can’t see any other way if you look at the language that he used.
While it’s unclear how much the Portuguese’s payoff would be following the sack, The Athletic reported that United will have to pay up his contract in full based on the terms in the deal Amorim signed to leave Sporting CP for United in November 2024.
Amorim was sacked after about 14 months with about 18 months left on his United contract, which was set to run until 2027 with the option of a further year.
Former midfielder and current Under-18s coach Darren Fletcher will take charge on an interim basis, with his first game being away at Burnley on Wednesday night and the FA Cup visit of Brighton and Hove Albion. A permanent appointment is likely to wait until the summer.
United currently sit uncomfortably sixth on the Premier League table, only three points behind fourth-placed Liverpool and eight points ahead of Bournemouth, who sit 15th(the club’s position under Amorim last season), but the club’s poor performances have become a cause for concern ahead of the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford and a trip to league leaders, Arsenal, later this month.
