Ruben Amorim worse than Marsch, Ljungberg, Jewell, Warnock and other sacked or relegated managers
Ruben Amorim has an atrocious Premier League record which cannot be entirely masked or excused by Manchester United reaching the Europa League final.
Even if Amorim was absolutely justified in prioritising that back door into the Champions League when an unthinkable relegation was removed from the equation, he surely has enough coaching acumen and Manchester United the requisite ability in their ludicrously expensive squad to pull together more than 0.92 points per game.
This historically sorry bunch of Premier League managers fared better throughout their careers than the Portuguese, who will slump beneath Ian Holloway, Micky Adams, Nigel Adkins, Steve Kean, Alex Neil and Egil Olsen in terms of points per game if Manchester United lose to Aston Villa on the final day.
This is the Premier League table since his appointment:
Dean Smith – 1.03 (126 points from 122 games with Aston Villa, Norwich and Leicester)
The reputation established and goodwill generated through his role as the layer of foundations upon which Aston Villa continue to build was wasted on two panicking mid-season appointments Smith might since regret.
A very good manager of a team promoted from the Championship became the emergency contact twice engulfed by the flames of dumpster fires headed back down.
His second and final full top-flight campaign at Villa does a fair amount of heavy lifting here, but even at Leicester he picked up nine points from eight games in the single greatest season of Premier League manager buffoonery.
Gary O’Neil – 1.03 (91 points from 88 games with Bournemouth and Wolves)
A Manchester United manager candidate at one stage, O’Neil might actually represent an upgrade on Amorim based on his work with Bournemouth and Wolves. But both have undeniably improved since he left.
Ian Branfoot – 1.03 (68 points from 66 games with Southampton)
No club has had more permanent first-team managers in the Premier League era than Southampton but you always remember your first. And Branfoot will unfortunately always be remembered as the manager who dropped Matt Le Tissier, understandably struggled to replace Alan Shearer and deployed a direct, long-ball game to the bitter end.
Jesse Marsch – 1.03 (33 points from 32 games with Leeds)
The American was ‘doomed to failure’ and ‘on a hiding to nothing’ after replacing Marcelo Bielsa at Elland Road, but only because he wasn’t very good. Marsch absolutely had his moments as Leeds manager, mind, steering them to safety, beating Chelsea, and winning at Anfield while mimicking Ali G.
Roy Keane – 1.02 (54 points from 53 games with Sunderland)
It was reported at the time that Keane’s resignation as Sunderland manager ‘sparked celebration among the players’, with former Black Cats chairman Niall Quinn receiving his notice over text.
The Irishman’s 100th and final game in charge was a 4-1 defeat to Bolton at the Stadium of Light, a result met with boos and which dropped Sunderland into the bottom three. What a shame Amorim wasn’t a pundit at the time. Keane had successfully fought relegation the year before and the Black Cats would do so again – under Ricky Sbragia.
Dave Merrington – 1.00 (38 points from 38 games with Southampton)
The benefactor of the Manchester United ‘grey shirt’ game, Merrington inherited a sub-optimal situation as Southampton caretaker for a season in what will forever remain the only senior first-team coaching post of his career.
Alan Ball’s summer departure for Manchester City might have caught Saints off guard but youth-team coach Merrington stepped in, secured survival on goal difference for a team which could not have expected a great deal more, and was replaced by Graeme Souness within the year for his efforts.
Felix Magath – 1.00 (12 points from 12 games with Fulham)
Has Amorim considered covering Lisandro Martinez’s knee in quark cheese yet?
Xisco Munoz – 1.00 (7 points from 7 games with Watford)
There is precisely zero shame attached to being sacked by Watford, who felt that “recent performances strongly indicate a negative trend at a time when team cohesion should be visibly improving” when adding Munoz to their compensation payment direct debits.
The Spaniard’s PPG record for the Hornets in the Premier League was actually better than that of replacement Claudio Ranieri (0.54) and Roy Hodgson (0.50), so it turns out he was holding that “negative trend” off.
Freddie Ljungberg – 1.00 (5 points from 5 games with Arsenal)
The transition from Unai Emery to Mikel Arteta was not seamless and required a month-long middle man sacrifice. Ljungberg unselfishly stepped up to immolate his managerial prospects with two scrappy draws, a pair of defeats and a win over West Ham as Arsenal used and abused him.
Danny Wilson – 0.97 (102 points from 105 games with Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday)
“In my opinion it would be best for the club if Danny Wilson was to leave” was how Secretary of State for Education and Employment David Blunkett called for the termination of the Sheffield Wednesday manager’s employment in January 2000. Four Sheffield MPs demanded the change, the response to which was a Manager of the Month award before he was ultimately sacked in March.
It is a matter of time until Ed Miliband calls for Amorim to go.
Eddie Gray – 0.96 (26 points from 27 games with Leeds)
Peter Reid delayed relegation but lasted just 22 games as Leeds manager, with Gray parachuted in as a Knows The Club appointment to rescue a side bottom with eight points after 12 matches. He could not turn things around and arrest an inexorable slide down the Football League, although his record was actually respectable in picking up more points than three teams.
Dave Bassett – 0.95 (124 points from 130 games with Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest and Leicester)
Bassett was involved in all sorts of Premier League relegations, indeed still the most of any manager ever. Four seasons in the competition resulted in a hat-trick of 20th-placed finishes with different teams: Sheffield United in 1993/94, Nottingham Forest in 1998/99 and Leicester in 2001/02. But he did start with a Brian Deane-inspired win over Manchester United in August 1992.
Brian Clough – 0.95 (40 points from 42 games with Nottingham Forest)
While Clough ostensibly left Forest where he found them 18 years before in English football’s second tier, that rather overlooks a remarkable journey which included two European Cups, a First Division title and a bond with a worshipping fanbase which could not be broken by his overwhelming personal demons or the relegation which accompanied his retirement in 1993.
Paul Jewell – 0.94 (130 points from 138 games with Bradford, Wigan and Derby)
Perhaps unfairly tarnished by The Apocalypse Season at Derby, it is slightly strange that Jewell never could find top-flight roles again based on his successful fight against relegation with Bradford, seven years after which he took Wigan to a mid-table finish and League Cup final. But then he did pick up just five points in 24 games with those doomed Rams.
Gary Megson – 0.94 (128 points from 136 games with West Brom and Bolton)
It was reported at the time of his sacking in March 2018 that Alan Pardew had phoned Megson and accused him of denying him his “new manager bounce” by leading the Baggies to a couple of spirited draws with Spurs and Newcastle as caretaker. How foolish of Amorim not to level the same charge at Ruud van Nistelrooy.
The longest top-flight spell Megson had was at Bolton, who he guided to a draw with Bayern Munich and victory over Atletico Madrid. But “the fans didn’t like me and I don’t particularly like them either”.
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Malky Mackay – 0.94 (17 points from 18 games with Cardiff)
“They had a lot of possession but we were deserved winners,” said Mackay after guiding Cardiff to a win over eventual champions Manchester City in August 2013. It would be best for everyone if no more messages from the Scot are divulged at this point, particularly of the text variety.
Neil Warnock – 0.93 (104 points from 112 games with Sheffield United, QPR, Crystal Palace and Cardiff)
Warnock was sensible enough with his private correspondence to be allowed to finish the job of relegating Cardiff, a feat he also accomplished with Crystal Palace and Sheffield United; he took each side to 18th so at least made it close. And QPR were outside the relegation zone when they sacked him in January 2012.
Steve Cooper – 0.93 (62 points from 67 games with Nottingham Forest and Leicester)
Forest were 17th when they sacked Cooper in December 2023, while Leicester were 16th in November 2024 when they ended a relationship destined to never work. It doesn’t feel as though the Foxes will be playing in Europe any time soon.
John Deehan – 0.93 (56 points from 60 games with Norwich)
Norwich were seventh when Mike Walker jumped ship for Everton in January 1994; his assistant Deehan struggled to steady a ship which ultimately sank into the First Division 18 months later.
Mauricio Pellegrino – 0.93 (28 points from 30 games with Southampton)
A sign Southampton had massively lost their way and decided to simply appoint a portmanteau of two very good managers, Pellegrino was in charge for the protracted and controversial world-record sale of Virgil van Dijk, and most problematic of all, the £20m signing of the entirely hopeless Guido Carrillo. It went so well that Mark Hughes had to rescue Saints after a few months.
