Ruben Amroim has been dismissed as Manchester United head coach and is the latest tactician to fail to fill the considerable shoes of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Man United managers since Sir Alex Ferguson: Best record, stats after Ruben Amorim is sacked originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Ruben Amorim was dismissed as Manchester United head coach following Sunday's 1-1 draw at Leeds United.
Before and after the match, Amorim used his press conferences to speak combatively about his bosses at Old Trafford.
For a coach who led United to their worst finish in Premier League history last season, a "back me or sack me" ultimatum always ran the risk of panning out this way.
United lie sixth in the Premier League and, despite struggling for consistency, are firmly in the hunt for Champions League qualification. The club's decision-makers, led by CEO Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox, clearly concluded this aim is best pursued without Amorim.
"With Manchester United sitting sixth in the Premier League, the club's leadership has reluctantly made the decision 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," a club statement read.
United are now searching for their seventh permanent first-team boss in a little over 12 and a half years since the end of Sir Alex Ferguson's historic tenure.
MORE: Why United chose to sack Amorim | Amorim's woeful record at Old Trafford
Record of Man United managers since Sir Alex Ferguson
Below is a breakdown of all the managers to have taken charge of Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013, listed in chronological order. Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick are omitted, as they were only briefly appointed as caretakers.
David Moyes
Ferguson's "Chosen One" soon had that weighty moniker used against him, but things did not start badly.
United won the Community Shield against Wigan Athletic and thrashed Swansea City 4-1 in their opening Premier League game. "Come on David Moyes, play like Fergie's boys…"
Only they couldn't keep it up. A 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield and an emphatic 4-1 derby loss away to Manchester City shortly afterwards were blows from which Moyes' United never really recovered.
Humiliating 3-0 defeats to both of those bitter rivals at Old Trafford in March 2014 left the Scot hanging by a thread and his former club Everton applied the final blow at a baying Goodison Park, ending Moyes' tenure within the first season of a six-year contract.
David Moyes Man United record: P51 W26 D10 L15 (50.98% win percentage)
Louis van Gaal
With the continuity-candidate plan in tatters, United made their first post-Fergie pitch for a major player in the global game with the gravitas to fill Sir Alex's shoes.
Hopes were high around Van Gaal after he led the Netherlands to third place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. A largely assured start at Old Trafford was torpedoed by a crazy 5-3 defeat to a Jamie Vardy-inspired Leicester City.
From that result onwards, there was an overly prosaic emphasis in Van Gaal's United sides, with marquee signing Angel Di Maria and Robin van Persie among those whose influence rapidly declined.
Things seemed to have clicked during a spring 2015 run when Liverpool and City were authoritatively dispatched and United returned to the Champions League.
But despite the emergence of Marcus Rashford, United could not kick on in the 2015/16 season when they finished sixth as Leicester were crowned champions. An FA Cup final win over Crystal Palace could not save Van Gaal, with one of the biggest names in the sport on the market at that time.
Louis van Gaal Man United record: Pl03 W54 D24 L25 (52.43% win percentage)
Jose Mourinho
The stage was set for the next instalment of Mourinho's rivalry with Pep Guardiola following the thrills and spills across El Clasico's divide from half a decade earlier.
Manchester City's assured early-season derby win at Old Trafford gave an early indication of where part two might be heading, although Mourinho emerged from his first season with credit in the bank.
Despite only finishing sixth as Chelsea — also under new management with Antonio Conte — stormed to the title, Mourinho lifted the Carabao Cup and Europa League. It remains United's most successful post-Ferguson season in terms of silverware.
Mourinho's claim that United's second-place finish in 2017/18 behind City's centurions was among the best of his career felt faintly ridiculous. Their efforts that season have aged pretty well but cracks were already beginning to appear, most notably between the manager and his flagship signing Paul Pogba.
By the time Mourinho was sacked after a December 2018 defeat at Liverpool, United were a struggling mid-table rabble.
Jose Mourinho Man United record: Pl44 W84 D31 L29 (58.33% win percentage)
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Solskjaer's talking of "playing with a smile on your face", "the boss" and "Man United DNA" all felt faintly unserious amid the Klopp-Guardiola era, but it's hard to conclusively argue against the view that he remains United's best manager since his old mentor Ferguson.
Perhaps he lacked a wider tactical vision regarding how to dominate games, but there really is something to be said for making things feel good and fun, especially after the late Mourinho toxicity.
An improbable Champions League last-16 comeback at Paris Saint-Germain all but sealed Solskjaer's transition from interim to permanent boss. In 2020/21, they finished second to City — his record in derbies against Guardiola, especially away from home, was excellent — and agonisingly lost the Europa League final on penalties to Villarreal.
Solskjaer had an energetic, hard-working side and foundations to build on. Naturally, United brought back Cristiano Ronaldo, completely torpedoed the manager's system and he was out of a job after a November 2021 hammering at Watford.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Man United record: Pl68 W92 D35 L41 (54.76% win percentage)
Ralf Rangnick
United appointing the high-priest of gegenpressing to oversee an attack led by Ronaldo and an increasingly disinterested squad to see them through to the end of the season is the sort of decision a club makes when no one really knows what they're doing.
Rangnick followed in the footsteps of his predecessors by getting hammered at City and Liverpool. Once it started to become clear that his move into a vaguely-defined consultancy role was unlikely to materialise, Rangnick repeatedly cut loose in public, telling press conferences that the squad was ill-suited to modern tactical demands and needed an overhaul.
It was difficult to argue with many of his conclusions, but this felt an awful lot more like self-preservation than leadership.
Ralf Rangnick Man United record: P29 W11 D9 L9 (39.93% win percentage)
Erik ten Hag
The first two-thirds of Ten Hag's maiden season in charge were an unquestionable success.
The Dutchman put United in the mix near the top of the table, jettisoned a malcontent Ronaldo, beat City at Old Trafford and won the Carabao Cup.
Then they went to Anfield. Hello, old friend.
Liverpool, who actually finished below United in the table in 2022/23, ran out 7-0 winners. Things were never the same after that.
The 2023/24 campaign — an eighth-place finish and a group-stage exit in the Champions League — was roundly awful until United avenged their 2023 FA Cup final defeat to City and made it two trophies in as many seasons under Ten Hag.
That victory helped to earn the Dutchman a contract extension that looked ill-advised at the time and plain stupid by the time he was finally following an October 2024 defeat at West Ham.
Erik ten Hag Man United record: Pl28 W72 D20 L36 (56.25% win percentage)
Ruben Amorim
Hopes were high as Amorim arrived at Old Trafford on the back of a dominant spell in charge of Sporting CP. His final home game in charge of the Portuguese club was a 4-1 win over an injury-hit Manchester City in the Champions League to further whet the appetite.
A dramatic Manchester derby win in December 2024 meant more success over Pep Guardiola and further endeared Amorim to supporters. The years of drift meant a hard line with stars such as Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho was broadly welcomed.
However, United simply did not win enough games. Even allowing for a spell of transition and Amorim's rigid commitment to 3-4-2-1, a 15th-place finish in the Premier League was unacceptable.
That and the defeat to Tottenham in the Europa League final would have cost many head coaches their jobs. Not Amorim, who was backed in the transfer market and saw fit to throw around ultimatums that results and his performance did not merit.
Ruben Amorim Man United record: P63 W24 D18 L21 (38.1% win percentage)
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