Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has vowed to give Ruben Amorim at least three years to turn things around at Old Trafford—pointing to the journey Arsenal have been on with Mikel Arteta after a “miserable” time.
The pressure on Amorim has been mounting as United’s struggles for consistency continue. It’s been well documented that the Red Devils are yet to win back-to-back Premier League games during Amorim’s 11-month tenure, with improved performances one week often followed by bewilderingly abject displays defensively.
The international break will give Amorim time to assess things before a trip to bitter rivals Liverpool on Oct. 19, but he will have taken encouragement from the performance of his players in the 2–0 win over Sunderland—a game that saw Benjamin Šeško really come to life for the first time up front.
Speculation that Amorim could be sacked by United has been bubbling away under the surface for weeks, even months, but there’s been a stream of reports that suggest the players are still behind the former Sporting CP boss.
Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United Record (All Competitions)
- Played: 50
- Won: 20
- Drawn: 12
- Lost: 18
- Goals Scored: 97
- Goals Conceded: 95
And if the comments of Ratcliffe, in interview with The Times and The Sunday Times’ produced The Business Podcast, are anything to go by, Amorim will be given much more time to settle things down at Old Trafford.
“Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years,” Ratcliffe said.
“Yes. That is where I would be. Three years. Because football is not overnight,” he continued when asked if Amorim would be given that amount of time. “It's three years. You also look at [Mikel] Arteta at Arsenal. He had a miserable time over the first couple of years.
“We have to be patient. We have a long-term plan. It isn't a light switch. You can't run a club like Manchester United on knee-jerk reactions to some journalist who goes off on one every week.”
Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United Record (Premier League)
- Played: 34
- Won: 10
- Drawn: 7
- Lost: 17
- Goals Scored: 41
- Goals Conceded: 53
Ratcliffe: Glazers Won’t Tell Me to Sack Amorim
Ratcliffe’s INEOS group own around 28% of United, meaning the Glazer family remain the club’s majority shareholders. But the billionaire tycoon would seemingly be the one making all of the decisions in Manchester—he’s been the face of widespread cost-cutting measures at the club that have been designed to make the Red Devils more efficient and get rid of what he calls “mediocrity.”
Asked whether or not he could be strong-armed by the Glazers into removing Amorim, Ratcliffe confidently said: “It's not going to happen.”
He added of their happiness for him to effectively run the club: “That probably sums it up. We're local and they're the other side of the pond. That's a long way away to try and manage a football club as big and complex as Manchester United. We're here with feet on the ground.
“They [the Glazers] get a bad rap... but they are really nice people and they are really passionate about the club.”
Ratcliffe: Man Utd Not Seeing Financial Gains Yet — But They Will
United’s cost savings in many off-field areas of the club have drawn significant criticism, but Ratcliffe has always maintained that the club were at risk of going out of business unless things drastically changed.
Doubling down on his and the efforts of the hierarchy so far, Ratcliffe explained that the priority has been to get United on a “sustainable, healthy footing”—one that will eventually lead to on-field success and a return to the club’s former glories.
“We're not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we've done in this set of (financial) results (United last month reported record revenues of £666.5million for last season but a loss of £33million for the financial year) and we were not in the Champions League.
“Those numbers will get better. Manchester United will become the most profitable football club in the world, in my view, and from that will stem, I hope, a long-term, sustainable, high-level of football.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sir Jim Ratcliffe Reveals Arsenal Path Man Utd Intend to Follow.
