Man Utd legend Neville says Amorim self-sabotage would get him sacked at Morrisons | OneFootball

Gary Neville says Ruben Amorim’s dismissal is “a poor reflection upon everybody” at Manchester United and has revealed which result he feels was “the killer game” in the Portuguese coach’s tenure.

United confirmed that Amorim had been relieved of his duties on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the 1-1 draw at Leeds United.

Ruben Amorim sacked: What next for Man Utd?

Neville reacted to the news on The Premier League Show on Monday evening, claiming that he was “surprised” at the timing, but not that the sacking happened at all.

“It’s a poor reflection upon everybody,” the United legend said. “It means it’s not worked. It means the decision-making all the way through has not been successful. It means the manager hasn’t won enough football matches, and ultimately everybody loses, particularly when you’re sacking a manager partway through a season when it’s very difficult to get an adequate replacement.

“Manchester United, they’ve been here before, and they’re in a challenging position again, but I am surprised that it’s happened this morning. I’m not surprised that it’s happened. I just didn’t realise it would happen so quickly.

“The last week or so, some of the press conferences that we’ve seen, it usually only ends one way, but I did think they would get through another couple of weeks to try and work out what to do.

“Obviously it’s become that challenging internally that they decided to do it very quickly, which was a shock this morning at 10 o’clock when I heard the news.”

Whether you’re work in football or Morrisons, you can’t do what Amorim did

Reports suggest that Amorim’s dismissal was down to a breakdown in his relationship with sporting director Jason Wilcox.

It is believed there was a ‘blow-up’ between the pair on Friday, which made the Portuguese head coach’s position untenable.

Amorim’s unhappiness was on display in his post-match press conference after the Leeds game, where he sent a pointed message to the board.

Neville appreciates that Amorim was consistently honest when speaking to the media but criticised him for turning on his bosses, which he said puts you in a difficult position in any walk of life, whether you’re a Premier League manager or a shelf stacker at a supermarket.

“I would actually be disappointed if there wasn’t a meeting after the Wolves performance,” Neville continued. “I think as a sporting director of a football club or an owner of a football club, you should be entitled to go and speak to a manager when the team have played like they have against Wolves, and basically Wolves have picked up a point at Old Trafford, only their third of the season.

“It seems to me that in the last week, Ruben Amorim has decided that he basically doesn’t feel supported, or he doesn’t feel happy.

“In press conferences he’s decided to unleash, be emotional, and do what he does, which I think has always been honest. He’s always done it with integrity. He always felt he was speaking from the heart. We always enjoyed his press conferences.

“But the reality of it is, when you turn on your bosses, it doesn’t matter whether you’re at a football club or you work in Morrisons, if you turn on your bosses, you’re not going to keep your job very long. So for me, the meeting between Jason Wilcox and Ruben Amorim that took place after the Wolves game, that absolutely would take place in every single football club.

“There has to be a level of honesty that occurs when there are disappointing performances coming.”

Neville picks ‘killer game’ that got Amorim sacked

Amorim was heavily criticised after winless Wolves earned a draw at Old Trafford last week, only their third point of the season, and Neville described that result as “the killer game” after disappointing performances against Everton and West Ham.

“Over the last five or six weeks… I’ve actually complimented United when they looked like they performed well against Bournemouth, when they lost at Aston Villa, which was a disappointing result, but I thought there was something in the performance.

“But some of the performances in the last month, if you look at the Everton game, losing to 10 men, when Ruben Amorim kept three at the back against one whilst they were basically trying to chase a goal against 10-men Everton.

“The performance against West Ham. Everyone’s beating West Ham. Man United drew with West Ham at home. And West Ham could have got more out of the game.

“Everyone’s beating Wolves. Manchester United drew against Wolves.

“If you look at some of the performances in the last month, they’ve really been shocking.

“However, there have been some bright spots along the way. I thought against Leeds that was a decent performance. I thought it was a good point, and I thought he could have handled it differently after the game in the press conference, but he didn’t.

“But this Wolves game seems to me to be the killer game. It was a bad one.”