Man Utd: Ratcliffe reveals Amorim sack stance amid Glazers query

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has opened up on the future of Ruben Amorim at Manchester United and his relationship with the Glazer family.

Ratcliffe holds a 28.94 per cent stake in United having taken control of football operations in February 2024.

The British billionaire has made a helluva lot of mistakes at the helm and has been roundly criticised for his cot-cutting measures, including cutting jobs and ending free lunches for staff in a bid to put United on a “firm financial footing”.

“The costs were just too high,” Ratcliffe told The Business podcast. “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.

“There are two halves to a football team – there is the business side and the sports side. The biggest correlation, like it or not, between results and any external factor – is profitability.

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“The more cash you have got, the better squad you can build. It’s like a Formula One car – the better car you can build, the quicker you go. The better your squad, the better your football should be.

“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.

“If you look at our results for last year we have the highest revenues ever. Profitability, the second highest ever. We’re not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we’ve done in this set of results, and we were not in the Champions League.

“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.”

The Glazers, who took control of United in 2005, have been blamed by the fans for United’s demise since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013, but Ratcliffe insisted “they get a bad rap… but they are really nice people and they are really passionate about the club.”

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Amorim’s most significant on-pitch decision was to sack Erik ten Hag last November and replace him with Ruben Amorim, who has won just 37 points in 34 games and has been under pressure of the sack pretty much since he arrived at the club.

Having insisted the Glazers asking him to sack Amorim “isn’t going to happen”, Ratcliffe said he won’t make decisions based on “some journalist who goes off on one”.

He added: “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’s 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 confirmed Amorim is “a good guy”, before implying he’s set to lead United for a long time yet.

“He has not had the best of seasons,” he admitted. “Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years. That’s where I would be.”

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