‘He’s done remarkably good’ — Manchester United co-owner backs Ruben Amorim as he admits Ten Hag ‘error’

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes despite his poor record so far.

Amorim has won just 10 of his 25 games in charge with his team currently lying in 14th place on the Premier League table with results and performances less than impressive.

However, Ratcliffe says than expected as he walked in on a bad situation which is not helped by the fact that he did not have a pre-season to tune his players the way he wants to play and the squad was not built for his style.

«I think Ruben has done an excellent job. I really like Ruben,» Ratcliffe toldGary Neville.

«I think in the circumstances… I mean he arrived mid-season, he didn’t have time to train his players in the way in which he wants to play, he inherited a squad which he’s had no influence on, and the squad isn’t necessarily designed for the way in which he plays football, and English isn’t his natural language, and he’s never played in the Premier League before, and he’s managing the biggest club in the world, and it’s a tough place, and he’s a young guy.

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«If you take all of that into consideration, I think he’s done a remarkably good job.»

In a separate interview with the BBC, Ratcliffe maintained the same stance regarding the United coach.

«I think Ruben is an outstanding young manager. I really do. He’s an excellent manager and I think he will be there for a long time,” he added, backing the Portuguese tactician to succeed.

One manager who had and is no longer there is Dutchman Erik ten Hag, who was sacked in October 2024, before Amorim came in to replace him.

Ten Hag was on the brink of getting sacked last summer but survived the axe with Ratcliffe’s INEOS, who are responsible for football operations at United, extending his stay with a new two-year deal, only to sack him nine games into this season.

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«It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality. It was quite difficult to extract Erik’s performance from the structure around him,” he said, defending the club’s decision to retain Ten Hag.

“Was the erratic performance a function of Erik, or was it a function of the organisation? And we couldn’t really get to the bottom of answering that question with certainty, I suppose, so we gave Erik the benefit of the doubt.»

However, Britain’s richest man feels now looking back, it was the wrong decision to retain Ten Hag as he ended up having an influence on transfer activities only to bring in players who now do not suit Amorim.

«Yeah, it was the wrong decision. We made the wrong decision. It was an error. So yeah, I suppose in that sense I regret it,” said Ratcliffe.

The petrochemicals billionaire also defended the mass sackings of staff at United aimed at cutting costs, saying the club would have run out of money by the end of this year if such measures had not been taken.

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«Manchester United would have run out of cash by the end of this year — by the end of 2025 — after having me put $300m (£232.72m) in and if we buy no new players in the summer,» he said of the dire financial situation at the club.

Ratcliffe remains confident that United will bounce back and start challenging again, saying the target of winning the Premier League in 2028 is still achievable amidst their current struggles.