Monday Night Club: Amorim sacked — tactics or politics? More Celtic chaos and Chelsea’s latest gamble
Football Daily
BBC
4.3 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Were tactics, results or politics to blame for Ruben Amorim’s sacking?
And are there similarities between Manchester United’s situation and that at Celtic, where Wilfried Nancy has been dismissed just 33 days into his tenure. His replacement? Martin O’Neill, the interim who he succeeded!
Former-United defender Phil Jones joins Izzy Christiansen, Rory Smith and Chris Sutton with Mark Chapman to discuss where it went wrong for Amorim at Old Trafford.
They explore the role of the sporting director in Britain compared to in European football, and why the relationship between the ‘head coach’ has been at fault for several recent departures.
Simon Stone, BBC Chief Football News Reporter, gives an insight into the behind-the-scenes rows that led to Amorim’s dismissal, while Jones explains what it’s like to try and learn a three-man defensive system.
Later in the show, BBC Scotland’s Tom English explains how Nancy’s arrival and departure demonstrates a larger complacency at Celtic.
And the panel consider how Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior, a friend of the show, could fare at Chelsea and why this managerial move might represent something more significant in world football.
Timecodes: 00:15 Why was Amorim sacked — tactics, results or politics? 17:45 Can any coach have just one plan or system? And did United's pursuit of Semenyo show Amorim was willing to change? 20:45 What's next for United — an interim manager? How can they do it again? 26:06 How much criticism do INEOS have to take for their decisions since the partial takeover? 31:07 Why do sporting directors work less well in England than abroad? 36:50 Celtic sack Wilfried Nancy after just 33 days — what went wrong? 43:35 Who was to blame at board level for Celtic? With BBC Sport Scotland's Chief Sports Writer Tom English 46:20 Is there any kind of big-picture view at Celtic? 49:12 Who are favourites for the Scottish Premiership title now? 51:00 Friend of the MNC Liam Rosenior set to become Chelsea manager — what did we learn when he was on? 54:10 What sort of club are Chelsea showing themselves to be with this process? 55:50 Rory Smith on the 'disgrace' of Chelsea and Strasbourg's relationship
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast, The Traitors Uncloaked. |
| 0:12.7 | But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's Saturday bonus episodes, |
| 0:18.2 | The Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Rylan, and comedy specials |
| 0:22.2 | from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffle and Rommashranganathan. |
| 0:26.0 | However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncoaked. |
| 0:30.3 | So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.2 | This is the Monday Nightclub with Mark Chapman. |
| 0:39.7 | On the Football Daily podcast. |
| 0:42.2 | Welcome to the Monday Night Club. |
| 0:44.0 | Roy Smith, Izzy Christensen and Chris Sutton are all here. |
| 0:47.9 | Celtic later, Manchester United First. |
| 0:51.3 | Ruben Amrim sacked after 14 months in charge this morning. He's got the lowest |
| 0:56.7 | win percentage by some distance of any permanent Manchester United manager. The statement from the |
| 1:03.3 | club said, Rumen Amram has departed his role as head coach. The club leadership has reluctantly |
| 1:08.0 | made the decision that is the right time to make a change. |
| 1:17.0 | This will give the team the best opportunity of the highest possible Premier League finish. |
| 1:22.8 | However, I'm going to go to you, Chris, first of all, on what I read on the Athletic earlier from Nick Miller, |
| 1:24.6 | which isn't quite the club statement. |
| 1:26.3 | This is his thought. The lesson here is that you can go for over a year, |
| 1:29.2 | barely winning any games, finish 16th, alienate beloved homegrown players, stubbornly stick with an |
| 1:35.1 | unsuitable formation, then change it for some nebulous reason and you're fine. But if you mildly |
... |
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