EXCLUSIVE: Michael Owen has pointed the finger at Ruben Amorim following his Manchester United sacking as the fallen Premier League giants hunt for a replacement
Michael Owen believes Ruben Amorim’s outburst against the Manchester United board gave the unhappy hierarchy the “perfect opportunity” to sack him.
Amorim was dismissed from his Old Trafford position after 14 dreadful months in charge, with his final match at the helm coming in a 1-1 draw against Leeds United at Elland Road. While the result itself didn’t appear to be cause for sacking, the Portuguese’s bizarre press conference certainly was.
Despite finishing 15th in the Premier League last season and having a win percentage of just 31.9%, the 40-year-old publicly insisted he should have more power at the club, suggested he would leave Old Trafford at the end of his contract in 18 months and called on every department to “do their job”.
His comments created the ideal opportunity for the United hierarchy to end his disastrous tenure without the embarrassment of admitting they backed the wrong man through results on the pitch.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star Sport via Casino.org, where he is UK ambassador, which helps players find the best casino online options in Britain, Owen said: “It’s similar to Chelsea in a way. It’s happened really quickly and I think similar scenario around the decision – manager not seeing eye to eye with different departments within the football club.
“I totally understand Manchester United parting ways because you can’t say those things, and expect to keep your job. Plus if Ruben Amorim was top of the Premier League and he said those things, then I’m sure they would work it out in-house and come to some form of agreement.
“But when your results have been as bad in a long time for Manchester United in their history, when there’s question marks about the way the team are playing, the formation, the insistence on playing a certain way, I just think there’s lots of things whereby once he said it, it was the perfect opportunity for Manchester United to act.
“To say do you know what, we weren’t really happy anyway, we were prepared to keep going to see if he could turn things around for the rest of it, but now he said this it’s just the perfect opportunity to make a change now.”
United have begun the process of hiring a new manager after Darren Fletcher was placed in interim charge for the Premier League game against Burnley on Wednesday and the FA Cup match against Brighton on Sunday.
It’s been reported that talks are advancing with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a shock return as caretaker boss before appointing a permanent replacement in the summer.