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Sir jim ratcliffe, Manchester UnitedMinority owner has publicly committed to head coach Reuben AmorimHe was granted a period of three years to demonstrate his capabilities and any notion of “knee-jerk” reactions was rejected.
Amorim, who will celebrate his first anniversary at Old Trafford on November 1, has been under constant scrutiny since his appointment.
His tenure has been challenging, with the team failing to achieve consecutive Premier League wins and finishing 15th last season – their worst top-flight finish since 1974.
The season also saw an early exit from the Carabao Cup at the hands of League Two side Grimsby.
Despite calls for change, Ratcliffe, speaking on The Business Podcast, produced by many times And The Sunday Timesdescribed the 40-year-old as a “good guy” who needed time away.
Ratcliffe said, “He hasn’t had the best season. Ruben needs to demonstrate in three years that he is a great coach. That’s where I would have been.”
He criticized media pressure for instant success, saying, “The press, sometimes I don’t understand. They want overnight success.”
“They think it’s a light switch. You know, you flick a switch and it’ll all be roses tomorrow.
“You can’t run a club like Manchester United by having knee-jerk reactions to a journalist every week.”
Ratcliffe owns just under 30 percent of United through his chemicals company Ineos from February 2024, and has taken control of football operations at the club.
Despite this the Glazer family, who have been the subject of many fan protests over their management since taking over the club in 2005, remain in overall charge.
Asked what would happen if the Glazers asked him to sack Amorim, Ratcliffe said: “That’s not going to happen.”
The Ineos boss said the Glazers were delighted with him taking over, adding: “That’s probably the essence of it. We’re local and they’re on the other side of the pond.
“It’s a step too far to try to manage a complex football club like Manchester United. We’ve come here with our feet on the ground.”
“They get a bad rap…but they’re really good people and they’re really passionate about the club.”
Ratcliffe faced his own criticism after controversial cost-cutting cuts led to the loss of about 450 jobs and the removal of perks such as subsidized employee lunches.
He said, “The costs were too high. There are some brilliant people at Manchester United, but there was also a level of mediocrity and it had become bloated.”
“I got criticized a lot for the free lunch, but no one ever gave me a free lunch.
“The biggest correlation between results and any external factor, whether you like it or not, is profitability. The more cash you have, the better team you can build.”
“So what we have done in the first year is spend a lot of time getting the club into a sustainable, healthy position.
“We are not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring undertaken in this set of (financial) results (United last month recorded record revenues of £666.5 million for last season but a loss of £33 million for the financial year) and we are not in the Champions League.
“Those numbers will get better. In my view, Manchester United will become the most profitable football club in the world, and I hope that will lead to long-term, sustainable, high-level football.”