Don’t be fooled by Ratcliffe’s words of faith in Amorim

Man United's owner says he'll judge the boss over three years. He's lucky ifhe gets three weeks, says Matt Verri

- Matt Verri

It is hard to make sense of much that has happened at Manchester United, so how fitting that Sir Jim Ratcliffe took the classic vote of confidence to new extremes.

The United co-owner was appearing on The Times’ business podcast and conversation turned to Ruben Amorim and how secure his job is.

At first, the answer appeared to be not very. Asked if Amorim would get at least the remainder of the season, Ratcliffe said only that he was “a good guy”. Told how unconvincing that sounded, there was an abrupt shift in tone. “I would say Ruben needs to demonstrate that he’s a great coach over three years,” Ratcliffe said. “That's where I would be — three years.”

Indeed, the speculation over Amorim’s job, Ratcliffe suggested, was little more than a media construct and not one he would subscribe to. “You can’t run a club on knee-jerk reactions to some journalist who goes off on one every week,’ Ratcliffe declared.

There will be many words used should Amorim lose his job in the coming weeks or months but knee-jerk will not be one of them. Amorim has taken charge of 34 Premier League matches and lost half of them. The 37 points picked up in that period is little more than relegation form.