Clues The End Of Manchester United And Ruben Amorim Is Soon

GRIMSBY, ENGLAND – AUGUST 27: Ruben Amorim, Manager of Manchester United, looks dejected after his team concede during the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Grimsby Town and Manchester United at Blundell Park on August 27, 2025 in Grimsby, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

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Even in August, visiting England’s eastern coast can be bleak.

Blustery winds whip across the beaches of Cleethorpes, where Grimsby Town FC is based, and temperatures are often far below sunbathing levels.

Yet when Manchester United arrived at the Northern Lincolnshire coast for a Carabao Cup game, the team would have expected a walk on the beach rather than a face full of salty water.

After all, this was a club in the fourth tier of English soccer, playing at a level that even an inconsistent Premier League team should easily dispatch.

But what unfolded in Cleethorpes was a nightmare. Manchester United was 0-2 down after just half an hour, and although the team rallied to tie the game and take it to extra time, they then managed to lose on penalties.

Even by Ruben Amorim’s highly emotional standards, the statements made by the coach postgame were charged.

“I think this is a little bit the limit,” he told the media afterwards. “Something has to change. In this moment, we need to focus on the weekend and then we have time to think.

“Everything [was wrong]. The way we started the game, we were not even here. When everything is so important in our club, everything that happened – it’s a problem in our club. We should do so much better. I just have to say sorry to our fans. I felt my players spoke really loud today about what they want.”

From the moment he walked in the door at Old Trafford, Amorim has raised the possibility of leaving the club.

When asked to explain what he meant by the player’s performance ‘speaking loudly,’ the Portuguese coach said, “I think it’s easy for you [to know].”

“Let’s focus on the next game and then we have the stop for the international games. We will think things through. I think football was really fair today. The best team won.”

Amorim: A Man With No Filter

Amorim’s public messaging is fascinating because it defies practically all the conventions of soccer managerial speak.

When he first arrived in England, I was one of many who wondered if there was some unseen strategy behind his regular emotional outbursts; were they more calculated than we were being led to believe?

We’ve got to the stage where we can safely say no. This is a man with no filter, a coach who’s honest to a fault.

Ample evidence was provided when he doubled or arguably intensified his comments about the players’ speaking loudly in the press conference before this weekend’s action.

“Every time that we have in the future one defeat like that, I’m going to be like that,” he said.

“I’m going to say that sometimes I hate my players, sometimes I love my players, sometimes I want to defend my players.

“This is my way of doing things and I’m going to be like that. In that moment I was so frustrated and annoyed. And I know you have a lot of experienced people talking about the way I should perform with the media, to be more constant, to be more calm. I’m not going to be like that.”

This type of unvarnished discourse is refreshing in a game filled with dishonesty, spin, and secretive media briefings. Many players likely feel that way; at least they know where they stand and the rest of the world does.

The problem is that if nobody else follows this methodology and being the emotional outlier with no filter can come back to bite.

Amorim’s public disagreements with players have escalated situations that might have been resolved had they stayed behind closed doors and trashing his team after a defeat has questionable value for a group already struggling for confidence.

As the manager said, many of the Red Devils’ problems begin in the players’ minds.

“I feel the players are always thinking about the past,” he added.

“They think there is something in the water here or in the food. It’s in our minds. We just need to think about the next game. We dropped a level [against Grimsby]. Now we have to respond in the next game.”

Amorim was also optimistic about the next result and pleased with what he’d seen on the training field since the horror show in Lincolnshire.

“I am confident, as I saw them play really well in tough matches, and I see it in training; training is so much better. I was shocked [at Grimsby],” he said.

“We need to focus in a lot of things. The players are always thinking in the past, it is in our minds. We need to focus on the next game. We dropped a level and we need to respond.

“Last game, we had moments where I had the feeling that when it is tough, everyone does their own thing. We have to change that feeling. We have to work on that, to work on that is the next game. We can respond on Saturday.”

But the truth is that Manchester United, or any club for that matter, cannot survive, let alone thrive, in an environment driven by such emotional instability.

The picture is clear, Amorim won’t change and because of that, his departure from Manchester United is only a matter of time.