Ratcliffe gives Amorim three years to succeed at Manchester United | OneFootball

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Manchester United, is going to evaluate Rúben Amorim's ability to be a "great coach" over the course of "three years," he said in an interview on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old Portuguese has a mediocre track record since his arrival in November 2024, both in the English championship (15th place last season, 10th currently) and in the national cups.

Ratcliffe believes that the former Sporting coach, even though he "has not had the best of seasons," is a "nice guy" who deserves time.

"Rúben needs to prove that he is a great coach over three years. That's where I would stand," said the minority shareholder (with a 29% stake) of Manchester United, responsible for football operations, to The Business podcast, produced by The Times and The Sunday Times.

Poor Numbers

The pressure on Amorim increased after a disappointing start to the season: three losses in seven Premier League games and an elimination in the English League Cup to Grimsby Town, a fourth division team.

Several influential commentators, including Wayne Rooney and Jamie Carragher, have declared that the Portuguese's stint with United is doomed to failure. Amorim himself admitted that he "sometimes feels like giving up the job."

"Sometimes I don't understand the press. They want immediate success. They think it's like a switch. You know, you press a button and everything will be rosy the next day. You can't run a club like Manchester United by reacting impulsively to certain journalists who get excited every week," Ratcliffe responded.

Internal Issues

The billionaire, founder of the petrochemical group Ineos, disappointed some fans with unpopular measures: job cuts, ending free meals for employees, etc.

"The costs were simply too high. There are fantastic people at Manchester United, but there was also a certain level of mediocrity and the organization had become very heavy," the director defended himself. "I was harshly criticized for the free meals, but no one ever offered me a free meal."

In September, the club from northwest England announced a net loss for the sixth consecutive year, but a record turnover of 666.5 million pounds sterling (about R$ 4.7 billion at the current rate).

"The more money you have, the better your team will be. It's like Formula 1: the better your car, the faster you run. (...) So, we spent much of our first year putting the club on a solid and sustainable basis," Ratcliffe argued.

Situation in the English Championship

Tenth before the break for the Fifa date, Manchester United returns to play in the English Championship on October 19 against Liverpool, the current champion and great rival of the "Red Devils".

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.