What's stopping Man Utd from sacking Ruben Amorim? Inside Sir Jim Ratcliffe's great dilemma after summer spending spree & formation fixation

There are quite a few similarities between Ratcliffe and the fictional media tycoon Logan Roy from the HBO smash hit television series Succession. Both men rose to become self-made billionaires after working class upbringings and have a particularly ruthless side. They also place a big value on first impressions.

Roy takes an instant liking to Swedish entrepreneur Lukas Matsson and then to right-wing presidential candidate Jeryd Mencken, never dwelling on the negative consequences of either choice. And in a similar way, Ratcliffe simply likes Amorim, in a way he did not take to Erik ten Hag or the short-lived sporting director Dan Ashworth.

Ratcliffe secretly flew out to Lisbon to meet personally with Amorim last year when Ten Hag was still in the role and was immediately impressed with him. When describing him to United We Stand last December he described the Portuguese as "intelligent, thoughtful" and hailed him as "a fantastic coach".

Given United's form had nosedived by the time Ratcliffe spoke to The Times last March, he modified his tone somewhat, but still made excuses for Amorim. "You know, you’re a young guy, you’ve come into the Premier League for the first time in your life, you’ve come in mid-season, it’s not your natural language," the Briton said. "I think coaches are emotional and Ruben’s no exception to that. And he’s a young coach. And he’s not perfect. But give Ruben a break. I think he’s a good guy, he’s working hard and I think he’s doing a great job."

He also emphasised, once more, his personal connection with the coach. "I really, really like Ruben. He’s a very thoughtful guy. Every time I go to the training ground, I speak to Ruben," Ratcliffe revealed. "I sit down and have a cup of coffee with him and tell him where it’s going wrong, and he tells me to f*ck off. I like him."

Amorim gave more details of the pair's relationship in the summer during United's pre-season tour. "We speak on the phone. He sends me messages, he sends me GIFs. I think it's really easy to deal with Jim," the Portuguese said. 

"I will say whatever I need to say with, of course, a lot of respect. Like with everybody, I know that he's the owner of the club, I know my place. But when I need to say something, I will say it naturally. With no bullsh*t. I'm not around the subject, I'm really direct. I think it's something that he likes a lot."

Ratcliffe's rapport with Amorim goes some way to explain why he has been so reluctant to fire him despite the dire results and poor performances. It is difficult not to agree with the assessment of Jamie Carragher, who said: "If he wasn’t so charismatic in the press conference, and wasn’t such a good-looking man, he might have lost his job a lot earlier. When you look at the results, they are horrendous."

But Ratcliffe's relationship with Amorim would not be the only thing at risk if he were to fire him less than a year after hiring him. The United co-owner has staked his reputation on the coach being a success. He has admitted to making a huge mistake by giving Ten Hag a vote of confidence after the FA Cup final win over Manchester City, having tried to find a new coach before extending the Dutchman's contract. 

And when he hired Amorim, he went over the head of Dan Ashworth, who favoured an English manager like Graham Potter, Gareth Southgate or Eddie Howe. The disagreement over who should replace Ten Hag reportedly played a big part in Ashworth being fired five months into his role as sporting director, although Ratcliffe claimed the problem was a lack of "chemistry". 

That leads us to another factor protecting Amorim from imminent sack: financial concerns. Firing Ashworth cost United around £4m ($5.3m) in redundancy payments, in addition to the £10.5m ($14.1m) it took to remove Ten Hag. Then there's the fact United paid an additional £11m ($14.8m) to release Amorim from his contract with Sporting CP. 

With Amorim under contract until 2027, it would take at least another £10m ($13.4m) to part ways with the Portuguese. That would mean the club squandering around £35m ($47m) on hiring and firing fees in less than 12 months, which would be extra sensitive given the club sacked 250 workers in 2024 in order to save an estimated £10m per year.

Then there is the £220m ($295m) the club invested in new players over the summer. You can see why they would be keen to give the coach more time to work with Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko. And that is only one element of transfer dealings the club have done to support the coach. They also sanctioned the departures of Marcus Rashford, Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony, taking a massive loss on all of them, because Amorim did not see them fitting into his team.

And therein lies the danger of replacing Amorim so early into his bid to reshape the squad and play to his formation. There is growing clamour among the fan base to bring back Solskjaer, the only manager in the post-Ferguson era to achieve successive top-four finishes. But players who would have been useful to the Norwegian's counterattacking game such as the pacey Rashford and Garnacho have now left and there is a shortage of natural wingers.

So, if United do want to replace Amorim, then they ideally want a coach who also plays 3-4-3. There are not many out there although it is difficult to ignore Oliver Glasner, who has worked wonders with Crystal Palace while using the same formation. The Austrian took Palace to FA Cup glory last season and last weekend oversaw Liverpool's first defeat of the season, making the Eagles the only unbeaten team left in the Premier League.

But it is worth remembering that something odd seems to happen to managers, no matter how successful they have been in their careers, when they enter the building at Carrington. Amorim was hot property this time last year, even more attractive than Glasner is now, as he had been mentioned as a possible successor to Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, and also Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. If United do want to stick with the tactical path Amorim has put them on, it makes sense to let him continue.

Ratcliffe's inclination, rightly or wrongly, is to stick with Amorim, at least for now. But for how much longer? The club effectively wrote off the last year as a season in transition and are in danger of letting a second successive campaign go to waste. And unless there is a dramatic turnaround in results, United look destined to miss out on the Champions League for a third successive year. 

The club's financial picture, which Ratcliffe has made it his mission to improve, is going to worsen the longer United they're out of Europe's top competition, particularly with the club's gross debt at an all-time high and after using a credit facility to finance the summer's purchases.

Ratcliffe has big ambitions for the club off the pitch, making the building of a brand new £2 billion ($2.7bn), 100,000 capacity stadium the centre-piece of his new regime. But the club cannot truly thrive off the pitch when they continue to be a shambles on it. And Ratcliffe should take notice of the very strong words that came from the mouth of Wayne Rooney on Monday.

"I am not seeing anything which is giving me any confidence, there needs to be big changes in my opinion," United's all-time top scorer said. "Manager, players, whatever that is. Whatever it takes to get Manchester United back. There needs to be a clear message from the owners. Whether that is the Glazers, [minority owner] Sir Jim Ratcliffe, there has to be a message of where this club is going. At the minute we are all sitting there waiting for it to crumble. The soul has gone from the club. It needs a new engine, a new lease of life."