Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sensationally backed current head coach Ruben Amorim to remain in the job for three years, despite his disappointing tenure so far.
The Portuguese penned a three-year deal when he joined the club in November last year, but won just his 10th Premier League game last weekend against Sunderland - his 34th in charge.
A 15th-place finish and Europa League heartbreak last season meant the club sought a clean slate; so there’s nothing like a cool £230million outlay to refresh the squad and go again in the new season.
Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens were the firepower that Amorim chose to elevate his squad, but his revolution is yet to truly take off.
While it is just seven games into the Premier League season, United sit 10th and have won and lost three games, drawing the other and recording a distinctly mediocre return at the start of the campaign.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Red Devils, either. They travel to Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Tottenham upon their return from international football later in the month.
Manchester United have had a mixed start to the season
|REUTERS
And the lack of improvements on the pitch has led to some fans already calling for Amorim’s head. Even former players have had their say; Wayne Rooney went on record on his BBC podcast admitting he has “no faith” that Amorim will be able to turn the dire situation around, while Gary Neville criticised Amorim's strict stubbornness over his 3-4-3 formation. Jamie Carragher has previously described his tenure as "a disaster”.
Ratcliffe, however, remains insistent that he is their man and they will not make any rash decisions to give him the boot. In fact, he proclaimed his desire for Amorim to see out at least his full contract at the club, which runs until 2027.
"Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years," he told The Business Podcast produced by The Times and The Sunday Times.
When pushed again if he was to remain in the role for three years, Ratcliffe replied: "Yes. That is where I would be. Three years. Because football is not overnight.
Ruben Amorim looks set to stay at Old Trafford for at least three years
|REUTERS
"It's three years. You also look at [Mikel] Arteta at Arsenal. He had a miserable time over the first couple of years.”
Mikel Arteta took over Arsenal in December 2019, leading them to consecutive eighth-place finishes, then fifth before three runners-up medals in a row.
"We have to be patient. We have a long-term plan. It isn't a light switch,” Ratcliffe continued. "You can't run a club like Manchester United on knee-jerk reactions to some journalist who goes off on one every week."
JUST IN: Manchester United in 'advanced stages' of finalising sale, Saudi chief says
Sir Jim Ratcliffe revealed his plan to stick with Ruben Amorim in an interview with the Times
|THE TIMES
Ratcliffe, who purchased a 29 per cent stake in Manchester United last year, runs all footballing operations at Old Trafford. But what would happen if the Glazer family, who retained their majority ownership of the club, wanted to sack Amorim? The British billionaire had a simple response: “It's not going to happen.
“We're local and they're the other side of the pond,” he added. "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.
**SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY GB NEWS SPORTS NEWSLETTER HERE**
"They get a bad rap... but they are really nice people and they are really passionate about the club."
Shortly after his arrival in February of last year, Ratcliffe made himself enemy number one due to his well-documented but scathing cost-cutting measures. The 72-year-old cut around 450 jobs, roughly 39 per cent of their entire workforce, while disposing of free lunches for all staff, bar the first team squad.
Ironically, the club then forked out over £10million by sacking former boss Erik Ten Hag and another £4m for sporting director Dan Ashworth.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
- Darts star fires back after receiving death threats from his own fans: 'I'm not playing for my country'
- Gary Lineker accused of using Manchester terror attack to 'cause hate and division' by Premier League icon
- Gary Neville faces wrath of own fans as Salford City supporters brand him a 'traitor' and 'scum'
Manchester United forked out almost £15million sacking former boss Erik Ten Hag and sporting director Dan Ashworth
| PADespite this, Ratcliffe defended his severe cost-cutting measures, saying: “The costs were just too high. There are some fantastic people at Manchester United, but there was also a level of mediocrity, and it had become bloated.
"I got a lot of flak for the free lunches, but no one's ever given me a free lunch.
"The biggest correlation, like it or not, between results and any external factor, is profitability. The more cash you have got, the better squad you can build.
Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Diego Leon signed for Manchester United this summer, with the club also completing a deadline day move for goalkeeper Senne Lammens | GETTY"So a lot of what we have done in the first year is spend an awful lot of time putting the club on a sustainable, healthy footing.
"We're not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we've done in this set of [financial] results, and we were not in the Champions League.”
United recorded their highest-ever revenues of £666.5million for last season, but an operating loss of £33million for the financial year.
“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."