Gary Neville: Ruben Amorim sounds unhappy with Manchester United hierarchy | Jamie Carragher: He's not good enough
Ruben Amorim said he joined Man Utd to be manager, not head coach, and suggested he would leave at the end of his contract; Man Utd have won one of their last five games after drawing with Leeds; watch Burnley vs Man Utd on Wednesday live on Sky Sports, kick-off 8.15pm
Monday 5 January 2026 10:08, UK
Gary Neville believes Ruben Amorim's recent comments to the media are a signal that the Manchester United boss is not happy with the Old Trafford hierarchy.
But Jamie Carragher has scoffed at Amorim's criticisms, claiming the Portuguese "is barely competent enough to be a Premier League manager right now".
Amorim told reporters after the 1-1 draw at Leeds that he had joined Manchester United to be their manager rather than a head coach and seemingly indicated that he will leave the club at the end of his contract.
"Something has happened in the last week which means that Amorim is starting to unleash a little bit," said Neville on his podcast.
"It looks to me that he is not happy with something in the hierarchy."
- Amorim: I came to Man Utd to be a manager, not a head coach
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Amorim's comments followed a suggestion on Christmas Eve that he has not received the backing he anticipated in the transfer market to play with his preferred tactical system.
But his remarks received a scathing rebuke from Carragher, with the Sky Sports pundit insisting that Amorim should not be in charge of Manchester United.
"I don't think he is in any position whatsoever to be questioning the people who appointed him," responded Carragher. "Because he's not good enough. He's not good enough to be Manchester United's manager. He's barely competent enough to be a Premier League manager right now."
Pressed on what might be the cause of Amorim's gripes, Carragher suggested: "It can only be two things. It can either be about the January transfer market, that he's not being backed. Or the people above him are questioning that he's flip-flopping between systems.
"It started to look like he was getting somewhere with a back four, he went back to a five at the back against Wolves and it was possibly the worst performance from a team we've seen against Wolves this season."
Neville: 'There's a fire being created'
Neville continued: "Obviously, something is annoying him, he's obviously not feeling the support. He's obviously letting go. When you say that you came to the club as a manager, I thought he was appointed as the head coach and quite clearly appointed to coach the team.
"Manager is a title that we don't see anymore. Manager suggests that he's saying he wants to manage more than just the training ground performance, he wants to oversee other parts of the club.
"I played under a manager and they basically have a greater say in what would be other parts of the club including recruitment, academy, style of play, pre-season friendlies and other things.
"I think he's suggesting that he needs to be given the ability to manage more departments of the club.
"I actually thought against Leeds, defensively United were very strong. I thought they were very solid in the game I thought they handled the atmosphere well. I thought they fully deserved the point out of the game that's why I was surprised at the end to hear of Ruben Amorim's comments because I thought you've got a point away from home.
"You've just had a disastrous result against Wolves at home but there's Burnley to go in three days, there's no real need for a fire right now but there's a fire being created.
"He's always been authentic, he's always had integrity in his press conferences. He's always said what he believes and he thinks and he should do, he should carry on as he was but it does look like he's now starting to point upwards which ordinarily does bring pressure with it."
