Ruben Amorim sacked by Man Utd | Nev gives his reaction...

0:00Bela Shah:Amirim gone inside 14 months. Before we get into the rights and wrongs of what has gone down, what's your overriding feeling on today's breaking news?

0:09Gary Neville:Yeah, look, when a manager is sacked at any level, and obviously I'm a part owner in a football club, it's a poor reflection upon everybody. 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 that ultimately everybody loses. particularly when you're sacking a manager partway through a season, it's very difficult to get an adequate replacement in. Manchester United have 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.

0:42Gary Neville:I think that I didn't realise it would happen so quickly. I think the last week or so, some of the press conferences that we've seen, it usually only ends one way. But I did think that they would get through another couple of weeks, try and work out what to do. But 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.

1:04Bela Shah:Yeah, just on the timeline, I mean, the acceleration of this decision seems to stem from this meeting that we talk about on Friday between Jason Wilcox and Amarim. Now, we've been told that United's bosses felt that his response at that meeting was very negative and emotional. And then we saw the post-match comments at Leeds. Do you feel like his position had simply become untenable?

1:26Gary Neville:look if there was a meeting on Friday morning about the performance against Wolves between the sporting director and the manager I'd have to have been disappointed if there wasn't a meeting after the Wolves performance 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 the third of the season it seems to me that in the last week Ruben Amram has decided that he basically doesn't feel supported or he doesn't feel happy.

1:58Gary Neville:He's called it on. He's obviously in press conferences, decided to unleash at times and sort of 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 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, you know if Salford City had a game that they lost or drew that was bad there would be a conversation between the sporting department and the manager, just like there would be from the manager to the sporting department if we weren't getting our targets in the January transfer window, these are conversations that have to happen there has to be a level of honesty that occurs when there are disappointing performances coming and look over the last five or six weeks I've done probably every United game apart from the Leeds game and the Crystal Palace one away and I've actually complimented United when I think they've looked like they've performed well against Bournemouth when they drew 4-4 when they lost at 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, to be fair, Ruben Amarin kept three at the back against one whilst they were basically trying to chase a goal against 10 men Everton.

3:25Gary Neville:The performance against West Ham, everyone's beating West Ham. Manchester United drew with West Ham at home and to be fair, West Ham could have got more out of the game. Everyone's beating Wolves. Manchester United drew against Wolves. So 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 actually thought against Leeds, I thought it was a decent performance. I thought it was a good point. And I thought that he could have handled it differently after the game in the press conference, but he didn't.

3:54Gary Neville:But this Wolves game seems to me to be like the killer game. It was a bad one, that.

3:59Bela Shah:Look, you touched on this, Gary, but his reluctance to move away from three at the back seems to have also been a factor. Was this a failure on his part to adapt? Or actually, is the reality of it the quality and quantity of players at his disposal?

4:14Gary Neville:Look, to be fair to Ruben Amirim, I think when he was offered the job, he said, no, I'd prefer to take it in the summer when you can adapt to my system and you can recruit towards it. He did say that, but then I think Manchester United said sort of like it's now or never. And the lure of Manchester United and being the manager is something that's difficult to turn down. But he did call this out on the way in. I actually thought that Manchester United would adapt a lot better to the three than they did do. I'm really stunned that over the period of the sort of time that Ruben Amarim has been at the club that they've continued to play so poorly in that system now I get it, it's a difficult system, wing-backs are challenging it's not a role that basically young full-backs growing up they don't play wing-backs growing up anymore in Europe similarly those two positions that are in behind the centre forward they're difficult positions because you have to be in the pockets and then you have to run through and then you have to be out to defend sometimes and chase back with the full-back of the opposition team So there have come some quite specialist positions within the system that Ruben Ammerin plays.

5:12Gary Neville:The centre-backs, obviously, as well. But I can't believe how badly they have adapted to it and how inconsistent they've been with it. That's a failing upon the manager. It's a failing upon the coach. It's a failing upon the manager. It's a failing upon the players. And it's a failing upon the club in terms of not recruiting properly for it. However, you know, thinking about this this morning, I'm travelling down to London at 10 o 'clock. and I was thinking about what managers have been appointed at the club over the last 10, 12 years. Louis van Gaal had his own philosophy. Jose Mourinho plays a certain style of football.

5:47Gary Neville:So does David Moyes. Eric Ten Hag, again, a very different style of football, very positional, different to what Manchester United ordinarily would play. Ruben Amorim, a very different style of football than Manchester United would ordinarily expect. I think the experiments have got to stop. Manchester United, and I'm not being, Manchester United, look at us, this is what we do, but there is a very good video, I think you can get it online, it's one that's been floating around for about 15 years, that Bobby Charlton talks about what Manchester United is as a football club. And I've always been very proud of what that club is.

6:18Gary Neville:Adventurous, exciting football, playing young players, entertaining the crowd, those fans that pay to come in, that are basically looking for some relief from their job at a weekend and want their entertaining Saturday. Man City must take risks and be courageous and play with attacking aggressive football. There's a brilliant video from Bobby Charlton describing that. Man City have got to appoint a manager that fits the DNA of their football club. Ajax will never change for anybody. Barcelona will never change for anybody. I don't believe Man City should change for anybody. They should play the way in which they play.

6:52Gary Neville:And these managers that have come in are fantastic managers. Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Eric Ten Haag, Ruben Arum, they're brilliant coaches. You can't say they're not good coaches or they're going to Solskjaer, but they've all come in with different ideas, different styles of play, different philosophies. And none of them really fit the Manchester United way. So for me, the club have to find a manager now who's got experience, who's willing to play fast, entertaining, attacking, aggressive football. Simple as that.

7:17Bela Shah:Who is that though, Gary? Because look, Darren Fletcher coming in interim charge. He knows what success is at the club and this is a sensible decision for now. but what about long term and what about until the end of the season? Is it best for Darren Fletcher to see it out until then?

7:33Gary Neville:I don't know. I don't know, genuinely. I could sit here and say that Darren Fletcher will be great to the end of the season. They could go and get beat by Burnley on Wednesday night. I could sit here and say Darren Fletcher's not the right man and they could go and be the most free they've ever been in their lives and beat Burnley 5-0. I think we really have to see how it adapts in the next few days. I do think Darren will need, you know, Fletch will need someone alongside him with experience if he's going to take it to the end of the season. For me, it feels like Manchester United before appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in sort of a short-term contract and it went really well.

8:09Gary Neville:There was a big boost at the club. They then appointed Ralph Randiuk on a short-term contract and it was an absolute disaster. So we've experienced both things. If they can get the right man out of the club that fits the sort of criteria that I mentioned before, they should try and appoint someone full-time. If they can't, they're going to have to try and find some form of experienced interim that will do the job for the next five or six months.

8:33Bela Shah:Who do you think, though, Gary, the person you described, who is that for you? Who's going to work as the next head coach in this club's set-up?

8:44Gary Neville:I think it would be wrong of me to name it. There are coaches that I like. I like Tuchel. I like Simeone at Atletico Madrid. I like Valverde. I think Valverde is a fantastic coach. But are there really opportunities for Manchester United to go and get these coaches? I don't know. I have no idea. But the most important thing is that Manchester United scouting department, recruitment department, sporting director have got their eyes open and basically have been seeing this coming over the last few months and have basically got an idea of what they need to do next and that they're going to come up with that quite quickly.

9:20Gary Neville:You know, it's been a real struggle for the last 10 or 12 years for all these good managers and coaches that have come to Old Trafford to try and get the results that the club demand. And we can't keep getting it wrong. We've got to get it right at some point.

9:32Bela Shah:Do you think, Gary, that the title manager is now redundant in the Premier League? And in terms of Amirim, you know, you touched on this about his press conferences. It's been 14 months of soundbites. Do you think he gave his opinion a bit too much? Was he too honest?

9:49Gary Neville:No, I'm not going to say that because I think a manager who comes into a press conference, look, I think if he was probably being guided by PR specialists and communication specialists, they'd say that he's too emotional, he speaks too much and he gives to the media far too much. But we're in the media. We get bored to death every single week by people not giving us good lines in interviews. So why should we? I don't think we should be the ones that complain when a manager comes in and gives his all. And to be fair, he's honest and authentic. and wears his heart on his sleeve, it wouldn't be perfect PR and comms sort of strategy.

10:20Gary Neville:But on the other hand, for us in the media, I think we have to welcome it. Look, I don't think it's been soundbites from Ruben Amrim. I think he's meant every single word that he's said. I think that is a real, genuine, honest guy. I don't think he's someone who's playing the game like you see some managers do when they come and do interviews and you feel like they're sort of coming out with cliches. That guy never came out with cliches. He was absolutely all in every time he did an interview. I thought he was fantastic at times and would have wanted him to really see him succeed. But what I will say is if the performances are that poor and the results are so poor, it doesn't matter how likeable you are, how honest you are, how much integrity you've got, you're going to get sacked at a club like Manchester United.

11:02Bela Shah:What about the players, Gary? Bruno Fernandes, we've seen he's turned down opportunities to leave the club. Is there any danger that he may have a change of heart now?

11:12Gary Neville:that's not a factor into it I mean I don't care about that today I think Bruno Fernandes has been sensational for Manchester United he's under contract you know he's always given his all similar to Ruben Amrim as I think he's someone who's performed brilliantly over five, six, seven years at the club so I think he's the least of Manchester United's concerns I think the major concerns for United is to try and get De Ligt and Maguire back as quickly as possible I'm not quite sure what's happened to them to get Maynou back fit to get the lads back from AFCON obviously when they're knocked out of the tournament or they win it and try and get as many good players out on that pitch as possible because I do think this league this year is below average.

11:49Gary Neville:I do think this Manchester United team are still in a position whereby they can get into the Champions League. They need an experienced coach who knows how to get them over the line and Manchester United do need to return to a backfall with wide players who can go and basically attack with width. I'm surprised the back three didn't work. I was actually quite excited by seeing it come into play because I didn't think we had a great back four. But having watched us play a back four the other week in one of the home games, I can't remember which one it was now, there's been that many over Christmas, but they were really good when they played it, when Dogu played on the right wing and it was Dallow and Shaw at left back and right back.

12:23Gary Neville:I just felt it looked like it belonged again. And I think that ultimately now they need to go back to that. They pretty much will, I think. I can't believe Darren Fletch is going to go with a back three at Burnley on Wednesday night. He's going to go with a back four with probably two midfield players and a number 10, a striker and two wide players.

12:41Bela Shah:Just finally, Gary, do you think that this decision could help or hinder United getting Champions League football?

12:49Gary Neville:No idea. Absolutely no idea. I'd like to think it would help because I think that just by, I think Ruben Amrim showed when he tweaked the system in the last couple of weeks, that actually there was an exciting group of players there that could actually go and do things. You know, I enjoyed the performances against Newcastle and Bournemouth because I saw things that demonstrated some sort of attacking energy and risk and courage. And it was exciting for the fans. So if that can happen, I think that basically we get back to a system that I think players may be more used to. It could help them. But I've seen the Ralf Rangnick five, six months, which I'm not saying it's Ralf Rangnick's fault.

13:26Gary Neville:It wasn't. He's a great coach. But that went horribly wrong. So let's not sit here and think that everything's going to get better straight away. We've seen it go wrong before.

13:40Gary Neville:Miss the post-match analysis of the big games on Sky Sports? Then check out the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. After every live game, top pundits like Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards chat about the big talking points and we hear what the managers and players have to say as well. That is the Sky Sports Premier League podcast, available wherever you listen to your podcasts. Thank you.