Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has publicly thrown his support behind manager Ruben Amorim, stating that the Portuguese coach requires a minimum of three years at the helm to demonstrate he is a "great" coach.
Ratcliffe's comments, made during an interview on The Times' The Business podcast, offer a clear defense of Amorim amidst swirling media speculation regarding the manager's future following a troubled start to the season.
Amorim, who will mark his one-year anniversary at Old Trafford in November after arriving from Sporting, has overseen a difficult period for the club. Last season, United finished a dismal 15th in the Premier League, their worst result since the relegation campaign of 1973-74.
The woes have continued despite a £200 million summer spending spree, with the team already suffering three league defeats and a shock EFL Cup exit to League Two side Grimsby this season.
Recent reports suggested Amorim was under immense pressure, with his job potentially on the line before a crucial 2-0 victory over Sunderland.
Ratcliffe, however, insisted those reports were unfounded, emphasizing the need for patience over "knee-jerk reactions."
"He has not had the best of seasons," Ratcliffe admitted. "Ruben needs to demonstrate he is a great coach over three years. That's where I would be."
Ratcliffe also dismissed external criticism, which has often focused on the 40-year-old manager's rigid adherence to his 3-4-2-1 system, calling it talk that 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."
Ratcliffe, whose Ineos group holds just under 30% of United but controls all major football decisions, tied the club's on-pitch success directly to its financial health.
The co-owner, who acknowledged that the majority-owning Glazer family is often given "a bad rap," has faced criticism himself for recent cost-cutting measures, including two rounds of redundancies (over 400 jobs lost) and the scrapping of staff perks like free lunches.
Ratcliffe defended these actions as necessary steps to combat "mediocrity" and a "bloated" cost base.
"The costs were just too high," Ratcliffe stated. "I got a lot of flak for the free lunches, but no-one's ever given me a free lunch."
He argued that profitability is the key driver of long-term sporting success. "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."