Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca
Credit: Reuters photo
Bengaluru: In a span of five days, starting with New Year’s Day, managers of two high-profile clubs have lost their jobs. Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca was the first to go before Manchester United parted ways with Ruben Amorim.
While underwhelming results were a major factor behind their mid-season sackings, the common line in their premature exits was the simmering differences they had with their respective club hierarchies that came to a boil during the busy festive time.
Despite winning the Conference League, the now-expanded Club World Cup where they beat Champions League winners Paris St Germain in the final this summer after securing Champions League qualification last season for the first time in two years since he took charge 18 months ago, Maresca has had a testy relationship with the Chelsea board under the ownership of BlueCo.
When results go your way, like it did during the early part of the Italian’s reign with the Blues -- who have a history of hiring and firing managers -- those differences often get papered over. At the end of the day, victories and titles are the sources of managers' bargaining power.
But when performances dip, like it has for Maresca with Chelsea suffering five losses and seven draws in 20 games in the Premier League to be placed fifth -- more importantly, 17 points adrift of leaders Arsenal — the rumblings assume more prominence.
Maresca, who has often complained about the club’s medical staff over player workload and handling of injuries, then let it rip after the 2-0 win over Everton on December 13, saying the previous 48 hours were the “worst since I joined the club” and “many people didn’t support me and the team.”
He also insisted he wasn’t talking about the fans who booed every time the club failed. That was the cul-de-sac and it was just a matter of time before he would be asked to pack his bags, which happened on January 1.
Maresca didn’t cover himself in glory managerially either, displaying stubbornness tactically. Having worked as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City in 2022, Maresca was rooted to the Spaniard’s philosophy of possession-based play, quite unlike the new Chelsea that prefers to attack from the wings. The squad at his disposal couldn’t really adapt to his system, and often Maresca ended up playing players out of position. Eventually, it all fell apart following a promising start.
Amorim arrived at United, who have been on a downward spiral since the exit of the great Alex Ferguson in 2013, with a lot of hype. Such was the belief the board had in the 40-year-old Portuguese, they named him as the first head coach – not manager – of the modern era. The only man to have previously held that title was Wilf McGuinness, who took over from the legendary Sir Matt Busby in 1969.
The reason why the United hierarchy – the Glazer family (majority owners) and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS Group (minority owners) – named Amorim as the head coach was to let him focus on training and strategies. Director of football Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada would look after recruitment, player contracts and all other aspects.
Having attained instant success in his previous stint with Sporting Lisbon (2020-2024) where he won two league titles that turned him into a hot property, Amorim tried to replicate the same 3-4-3 system with the Red Devils. When a team is struggling, the onus would be to first strengthen the defence and then shore up the attack. Playing with three at the back was always going to backfire given United’s travails and they just couldn’t cope with it.
Barring reaching the Europa League final last summer where they lost 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, United’s results under Amorim were quite underwhelming, winning just 25 out of 63 in all competitions. Pressure kept growing on Amorim and he let it loose last week, claiming he was United’s ‘manager’ and ‘not just coach’ before telling Wilcox and Berrada to do their respective jobs properly.
That sealed Amorim’s fate, who came in as one of the most sought-after coaches in the world but left with his resume blotted.