Manchester United has spent nearly 60 million to change coaches after Freud retired; the cost of firing Amorin is high

Hupu October 1st News TheAthleticUK Financial reporter Chris Weatherspoon wrote Manchester United's Finance Column.

Amorin officially announced his takeover on November 1 last year, and before taking office on the 11th, he was known as one of the most praised young coaches in Europe.

Previously, he spent four and a half years in Portugal Sports. Manchester United spent about £11 million to bring him and his team to Manchester. Four days after announcing his incoming new head coach, Amorin beat Manchester City 4-1 in his last home game.

Under Amorin's leadership, Manchester United's record is generally not ideal, but when Manchester United considers whether to suddenly end Amorin's coaching experiment, there are more other reasons to consider besides football. It costs a lot of money to fire the head coach/manager, and financial issues have been a hot topic for the club since Sir Jim Ratcliff acquired a stake in Manchester United in February 2024.

For nearly 27 years since the late 1980s, Manchester United has no need to worry about the cost of changing head coaches. Sir Alex Ferguson's long and brilliant coaching career ensures that any problem is away from the Old Trafford coaching seat. Things have changed a lot since he retired in 2013. Amorin was the sixth long-term head coach on the coach's seat in the next 12 years.

All these changes come at a price. Ferguson's departure, while apparently not a dismissal, brought about a cost of about £2.4 million ($3.2 million at current exchange rate) to fire the coaching staff that his successor David Moyes did not want.

Moyes' six-year contract was signed for only 10 months before resigning in April of the following year. The firing of him and his staff team cost Manchester United £4.9 million.

This is the lowest cost of sacking Manchester United in recent years.

Luis Van Gaal coached for two years after Moyes and was eventually fired, with the cost of firing the Dutchman and his assistant at £8.4 million. Next comes Jose Mourinho, who was fired in December 2018, netting £19.6 million with his team (the highest coaching staff severance in Manchester United's history).

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (£9.1 million) and Eric Tenhager (£10.4 million) also had pitifully short terms, especially the latter was fired less than four months after Manchester United triggered a one-year contract renewal.

The biggest uncertainty is Ralph Rangnick, who was appointed as interim head coach after Solskjaer left office, and the German coach will serve as a consultant for two years after the 2021-22 season.

According to the information provided by the club at the time, not all of the £14.7 million was paid to Rangnick and his team. Instead, part of it is used for wider staffing adjustments in Manchester United’s football and non-football sectors. Therefore, the specific amount the German coach and his team received when they left the job is unknown.

Even if we deduct all this money, the cost of Manchester United firing the head coach over the years is as high as £54.9 million. For clubs with status like theirs, the money itself is not much: it has less than 1% of the club's total revenue since Ferguson stepped down 12 years ago.

Manchester United's financial situation can also bear the losses of early sacking of the boss coach. United remained profitable in the years when Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho were fired.

However, the situation has reversed recently, with deficiencies on the court slowly but steadily eroding off-field resources. While Tenghager left, Manchester United also spent £4.1 million to fire sporting director Dan Asheworth, who had been in office for only five months.

Overall, the cost of firing Ashworth, Tenhager and his assistants is equivalent to two-fifths of Manchester United's personnel change costs last season. For football players, one or two mistakes will have a huge impact.

The firing of Amorin and his team behind the scenes will result in further direct losses. The specific amount is not clear, but since the Portuguese contract will not expire until June 2027, the loss will not be small.

Even if it is just a loss of amortized costs, if United fires him by the end of next June, they will have to account for an additional £4.2 million in the 2025-26 season, although this is not a cash cost, which is their latest financial concerns.

No Champions League revenue this season, which is also a factor that Manchester United expects revenue to drop slightly in 2025-26, while rival turnover is soaring. These forecasts also include the lowest Premier League rankings. If this goal is not achieved, Manchester United will suffer another financial blow.

Of course, all of this may not help. Amorin may be able to reverse the downturn; the Premier League champions (currently only include six top teams) may expand rapidly; the currently highly regarded but unworthy game system may soon achieve results.

If all this fails to come true, Manchester United and Ratcliff will have to make a choice.