What is the point of an interim manager?
The Athletic FC Podcast
The Athletic
4.0 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 11 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of The Athletic FC Tactics Podcast, the panel discuss the roles and responsibilities of caretaker and interim managers.
Manchester United have been busy this week, with Ruben Amorim gone. So how do they go about replacing him — both in the short, and long term?
And how does any club figure out its managerial appointments, from caretaker and interim bosses to those all-in project managers.
Host: Michael Bailey
With: Michael Cox, Mark Carey and Liam Tharme
Producer: Mike Stavrou
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Athletic FC |
| 0:03.1 | Hello and welcome to the Athletic FC tactics podcast. |
| 0:18.0 | I'm Michael Bailey. |
| 0:19.0 | Happy new year to you all. |
| 0:22.7 | This week, there's only one topic in town, Manchester United Football Club. Ruben Amarim's gone. So how do they go about |
| 0:28.6 | replacing him both in the short and long term? And how does any club figure out its managerial |
| 0:34.2 | appointments from caretaker and interim bosses to those all-important project managers. |
| 0:40.7 | Let's find out for this one. |
| 0:42.3 | We have Liam Tharm. |
| 0:43.8 | Hey, Michael. |
| 0:44.9 | Michael Cox. |
| 0:46.0 | Hi, Michael. |
| 0:47.0 | And Mark Carey. |
| 0:48.3 | Hello, Michael. |
| 0:49.5 | Perhaps the least surprising news of the century, maybe by the timing, |
| 0:53.4 | arrived on Monday morning with Ruben Amarim relieved of his duties, |
| 0:58.0 | be them as manager or head coach at Old Trafford. |
| 1:01.1 | We've spoken about him and the work he was doing at the club so many times since his appointment, |
| 1:06.2 | so we'll keep this answer brief. |
| 1:08.1 | But were any of you surprised by the call to sack him? |
| 1:11.7 | Michael, you were a staunch Amorim skeptic. |
| 1:15.6 | Yeah, I know it sounds mad, but I honestly thought as early as March I really feared for Amiram. |
... |
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