Amorim's fate was sealed in 'blow-up' meeting with Wilcox two days before Leeds draw

Rúben Amorim’s Manchester United tenure was effectively over two days before the 1-1 draw with Leeds at Elland Road that formally ended it, after the Portuguese manager reportedly “blew up” in a meeting with director of football Jason Wilcox. The confrontation, which arose when Wilcox raised concerns about Amorim’s insistence on his 3-4-3 system following a 1-1 draw with bottom-placed Wolves, left the club with no appetite for further dialogue.

According to The Telegraph, the decision to sack Amorim was taken without a formal board meeting, and carried the full backing of co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family. That made Amorim a dead man walking when United travelled to Leeds — the result itself almost a formality in terms of his fate.

The context behind the dismissal is damning. Across the 2025/26 season, Amorim’s side collected just 30 points from a possible 60, winning only eight of their 20 league games — a win rate of 40%. The Leeds draw was the final entry in a record that had long since exhausted the patience of the club’s hierarchy.

Amorim’s post-match press conference at Elland Road offered a window into his state of mind. Asked whether he still had the backing of the club’s leadership, he delivered a pointed and defiant response.

“Guys, to stop with that — I noticed that you received selective information about everything,” he said. “I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United. That is clear. I know that my name is not Tuchel, is not Conte, is not Mourinho, but I’m the manager of Manchester United.”

He went on to insist he would not resign. “I’m not going to quit. I will do my job until another guy comes here to replace me. I just want to say that I’m going to be the manager of this team, not just the coach. Every department — the scouting department, the sporting director — needs to do their job. I will do mine.”

The remarks, delivered with evident frustration, underlined the breakdown in the relationship between Amorim and the club’s football operations structure — a fracture that had already been deemed irreparable before a ball was kicked at Elland Road.

The episode now serves as a cautionary backdrop for Michael Carrick, who faces United at Leeds under his own considerable pressure, with the parallels between the two situations not lost on supporters.