Ruben Amorim has faced criticism at Manchester United so far this season, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said that the club needs to give their head coach time
Rio Ferdinand believes that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s public backing of Ruben Amorim will have delivered a really important message to the Manchester United squad. Ratcliffe has declared that Amorim requires three years to demonstrate his credentials as a top manager.
The club’s co-owner admitted that it has not been the finest of campaigns, but drew parallels with the “miserable time” Mikel Arteta endured during his initial couple of seasons at Arsenal. Ferdinand, however, doesn’t believe he’s the appropriate figure to make comparisons with, despite grasping the reasoning.
Yet despite not entirely agreeing, he maintains that the statement carries real weight. “I think it’s really important [that] the message [is sent] out to the current squad,” Ferdinand said during a video on his YouTube channel.
“With that message, you don’t get players sitting there going, ‘Oh, he’s going to be off in a minute anyway, I can just sit here and chill, I can down tools.’ No, in their eyes now, he ain’t going, ‘I’d better pull my finger out and start doing a bit.'”
Ferdinand also values Ratcliffe’s transparency: “I just like to hear the people that are in the driving seat of a football club come out and speak. That’s what I like about Jim Ratcliffe.
“He went on a podcast to speak about something totally different, but obviously, that podcast isn’t going to allow him to come on and not ask him about Man United. So, it’s just refreshing that somebody in his position actually talks.
“Do I exactly agree with what he said? I understand the sentiment– if you go through the facts, I don’t think it’s the right person to draw a comparison with.
“You look at Arteta – there are similarities in some of the stats. The big one is that he improved the team from 10th to finish eighth in his first year. Amorim took his team from 14th to finish 15th.
“There was also flexibility in the way Arteta had his team. I think he had about seven different formations in his first 50 matches, just trying things out.
“The improvement line would have been a bit more consistent, and you’d go, ‘I can see it happening.’ Whereas with Amorim, you look at him and there isn’t as much consistency or positives that are coming out of it that you’re going, ‘oh, I can actually see it clearly, it’s hitting me between my eyes, I couldn’t let this guy go’.
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