Sir Jim Ratcliffe gives worrying take on Man United academy | OneFootball

Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has once again publicly commented on the future of manager Ruben Amorim.

Pressure

The Portuguese manager has had a rather poor start to the campaign, only winning three of their opening seven league matches.

He has also seen his side dumped out of the Carabao cup to League Two Grimsby Town in August.

Ratcliffe did admit that Amorim has not had the best of starts but defended his appointment by claiming the press demand unrealistic instant success.

He also controversially defended the deeply unpopular Glazers and once again stated that the club were in the right to introduce cuts to numerous aspects like free staff lunches.

Sir Alex Ferguson comparisons

Speaking on The Times podcast, The Business, Ratcliffe compared Amorim’s situation to Sir Alex Ferguson in the late 1980s.

The Ineos chief claimed, “I remember the clamouring for Alex Ferguson to be fired in his first two years. You look at (Mikel) Arteta at Arsenal. He had a miserable time for the first couple of years.”

He did admit that results would finally have to change as they are “results driven” but “we have to be patient and we have to see through the results. I think there’s lots of good things at Manchester United. We have to be patient and we have a long-term plan. It isn’t a light switch.”

Glazer support

Ratcliffe elaborated further on his positive working relationship with the Glazers by denying they would try and go over his head to get rid of Amorim. He stated, “it absolutely wouldn’t happen because it’s just a good working relationship.”

He continued, “they come to the board meetings. We sit down and we talk about things. We’ve made errors. There’s absolutely no question that we’ve made errors as we’ve gone along and we’ve talked about it. But no one’s perfect.”

Role of the academy

Ineos have prioritised moves for young talents with Chido Obi, Sekou Kone, Diego Leon and Cristian Orozco all agreeing deals to move to Old Trafford.

Commenting on the state of the youth institutions he claimed, “the academy has really slipped at Manchester United. You need the academy to be producing talent all the time. It helps you financially.”

United fans will understand that modern financial rules mean that some academy starlets will be sold for economic gain. Nonetheless, they will also likely be concerned that it seemed the primary function of the academy according to Ratcliffe’s explanation.

He once again reiterated that it is not an issue that can be solved immediately but believes the club are moving in the right direction.

Featured image by Justin Setterfield via Getty Images

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