Amorim needs three years at Man Utd - Ratcliffe

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says manager Ruben Amorim needs three years to prove he is a "great" coach.

Amorim will complete a year at the Old Trafford helm in November but his record since arriving from Portuguese club Sporting has not been good.

United finished 15th in the Premier League last season, their worst performance since the 1973-74 campaign in which they were relegated from the top flight.

Despite a summer transfer outlay in excess of £200m, they have already lost three times in the league this season and been knocked out of the EFL Cup by League Two Grimsby.

Although sources close to Ratcliffe had stressed Amorim was not in any immediate danger, a fresh round of speculation before last weekend's 2-0 victory over Sunderland suggested Amorim was at risk of losing his job if United had failed to win.

However, in an interview on the Times' The Business podcast, Ratcliffe says that was not the case and feels "good guy" Amorim will need an extended amount of time to prove his worth.

"He has not had the best of seasons," said Ratcliffe.

"Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years. That's where I would be."

There have been plenty of external observers saying 40-year-old Amorim will not succeed at United, criticising him for refusing to change his 3-4-2-1 system.

Ratcliffe says he is not interested in such talk and feels it comes from a position of ignorance.

"The press, sometimes I don't understand," he said.

"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, who owns just under 30% of United, controls all the major football decisions, even though the Glazer family retain a majority stake in the club.

The Ineos owner acknowledges the Glazers, who took control of United courtesy of a leveraged buyout in 2005, get "a bad rap".

He insists they are "passionate" about the club and, when asked if they might order him to sack Amorim, said: "That's not going to happen."

Last month, United announced they had cut losses from £113.2m to £33m for the year to June 2025.

This followed two rounds of redundancies, during which more than 400 people lost their jobs, including many long-term staff members. Scouting is among the areas where numbers have been slashed.

Ratcliffe has been criticised for the job losses and also scrapping long-standing perks such as free lunches for staff.

"The costs were just too high," he said. "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. The more cash you have got, the better squad you can build.

"If you look at our results for last year we have the highest revenues ever. Profitability, the second highest ever. 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."