Ruben Amorim: Gary Neville responds to manager’s fiery comments

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·5. Januar 2026

Ruben Amorim: Gary Neville responds to manager’s fiery comments

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has had an eventful few days, to say the least.

After a disappointing draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers to finish the year and a more acceptable 1-1 draw at Elland Road against Leeds United, most of the noise has been off the pitch.

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Drama

There were reports that Director of Football Jason Wilcox was an open critic of Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation.

There is reportedly growing tension between the two, and Amorim appeared in an irate mood in the pre-match press conference against Leeds when he revealed that there was unlikely to be any transfer dealings in the winter market.

The dark clouds only grew when Amorim left his post-match press conference against Leeds early.

Amorim made the remarkable claim that he may not have the name of Jose Mourinho but that he is still the manager of the club.

He also crucially accused people at the club of listening too much to outside noise. Amorim stated, “if people cannot handle the Gary Neville and the criticism of everything, we need to change the club. No, guys, I just want to say that I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach.”

Gary Neville response

Speaking to Sky Sports in comments carried by The Mirror, Neville responded to Amorim’s words.

The former Manchester United defender replied, “some bizarre comments around, ‘I’m a manager, not a head coach’. I just said about Maresca, once you start this game-playing in your press conferences, something is obviously annoying him, he’s not feeling the support and he’s letting go.”

He continued, “to say that you’ve come to the club as a manager, I thought he was appointed head coach of the football club and appointed to coach the team. Manager is a title that we don’t see anymore. I don’t know what Pep Guardiola is at Manchester City.”

Neville hinted that he feels Amorim wants more control than he is currently getting at the club. The pundit stated this demonstrates the Portuguese’s unhappiness with the current situation and that it draws parallels with former Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca.

Neville also responded to Amorim using his name in the press conference by claiming, “he’s mentioned my name in it as well, apparently. That’s the sort of thing that managers tend to do towards difficult periods, they have a go at pundits. No problem with that whatsoever. I’ve actually been quite supportive of Manchester United’s performances against Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Newcastle.”

There have been significant reports that United’s hierarchy have not been impressed with Amorim’s comments and that his future is in the balance after a hectic week.