Manchester United: Sir Jim Ratcliffe issues Ruben Amorim sack verdict ahead of crucial Liverpool clash | OneFootball

Red Devils take on Premier League champions after international break

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has admitted that Ruben Amorim has underperformed with Manchester United, but ruled out sacking the Portuguese head coach.

Ratcliffe shares ownership of the Red Devils with the Glazer family.

United sit 10th in the Premier League, with three wins in their opening seven league games. They face Arne Slot’s Liverpool at Anfield next up.

Amorim is into his first full term at the helm, having taken over the reins mid-season from Erik ten Hag in 2024-25.

The former Sporting boss led United to the Europa League final, where they were beaten 1-0 by Tottenham, as well as a 15th-placed finish in the English top flight.

As a result of their defeat by Spurs in Bilbao, the Red Devils missed out completely on European competition this season.

They also suffered an embarrassing penalty shoot-out defeat by Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.

However, despite acknowledging United’s shortcomings, Ratcliffe said that Amorim would not be dismissed.

"He has not had the best of seasons,” Ratcliffe told The Business Podcast, produced by The Times and The Sunday Times.

“Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years. That is where I would be, because football is not overnight.

"It is three years. You also look at [Mikel] Arteta at Arsenal. He had a miserable time over the first couple of years.

"The press, sometimes I do not understand. They want overnight success. They think it is a light switch. You know, you flick a switch and it is all going to be roses tomorrow.

"You can't run a club like Manchester United on knee-jerk reactions to some journalist who goes off on one every week."

Ratcliffe was asked directly if he would sack Amorim should he be instructed to by the Glazer family.

"It's not going to happen," the businessman replied, confirming that he was in charge of footballing decisions with his co-owners Stateside.

"That probably sums it up,” he continued. “We are local and they are the other side of the pond.

"That is a long way away to try and manage a football club as big and as complex as Manchester United. We are here with feet on the ground.

"[The Glazers] get a bad rap, but they are really nice people and they are really passionate about the club."

Ratcliffe has previously come under fire for a mass redundancy programme that he has undertaken at United.

It led to two rounds of job cuts at Carrington, with 250 made redundant in 2024, with another 200 told that their services were no longer required.

"The costs were just too high,” Ratcliffe explained.

“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 has 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.

"A lot of what we have done in the first year is to spend an awful lot of time putting the club on a sustainable, healthy footing.

"We are 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.”

Last month, the club reported record revenues of £666.5million for the season just gone, but they had lost £33m for the financial year.

"Those numbers will get better,” Ratcliffe insisted.

“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."