Why Manchester United continues to bet on Ruben Amorim

Manchester United has refused to sack Ruben Amorim after a poor start to this season, despite bringing him in to replace Erik Ten Hag, who struggled at the start of last season.

For a long time, Amorim has been seen as one of the best coaches on the market because of his work at Sporting Club.

He left them in the middle of winning back-to-back league titles, thanks to the goals of Viktor Gyokeres, who now plays for Arsenal.

Before Manchester United showed interest, he could have become Liverpool’s replacement for Jurgen Klopp, but the Reds stunned everyone by making Arne Slot their manager.

There is little doubt that Amorim is a good manager who can make fans buy Manchester United tickets again, but how long will he remain their coach if the bad results continue?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe quickly developed a reputation for being a ruthless decision-maker as soon as he joined the club’s board.

He soon gained a reputation for stopping waste by sacking several non-playing staff at the club who had been there for decades.

He even halted a lucrative ambassadorial deal that the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson had at the time.

Last season, he refused to pay for the club’s staff who were not part of the playing and coaching team to travel for the Europa League final.

Because of these ruthless decisions, no one would have expected Amorim to have lasted on the job as long as he has.

However, Amorim has been enjoying backing from the man who sacked Ten Hag, even when he said he would not change his system to bring success to Manchester United.

Ratcliffe has also said he will not sack the gaffer even if he is asked to do so by the club’s majority owners, as he trusts the coach and cannot be sacking managers so quickly at a top club.

He might be saying the truth, but there are several other reasons why Manchester United have stuck to Amorim as their manager so far.

There are no better managers on the market

The market for managers is not the best at the moment, and there is a chance that United will end up with a worse gaffer if they sack Amorim.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club after several decades as their manager, the Red Devils have been looking for the best and perfect manager for their team.

This means they have worked with so many managers at the same time that teams like Liverpool have had just three coaches and have been more successful.

This is because new managers do not guarantee long-term success, especially if they are not good enough.

The likes of Xavi Hernandez and Zinedine Zidane are available to coach a top team like United, but there is no guarantee they will want the job.

The coaches will have a look at how fast United loses trust in managers and want to stay away from a team like that.

Xavi was one of the managers they considered to replace Ten Hag, but the former midfielder was not spectacular when he coached Barcelona, and United fans would not be excited to have him on their bench.

Zidane would be great for any team, but after two successful spells as the manager of Real Madrid, he would be worried about spoiling his reputation at United.

At the moment, there is hardly a better manager on the market, and United know this, so they have opted to stick with Amorim till he finds success.

They are worried about what people will think of their decision-making

Amorim arrived with a big rebuilding job to do at Manchester United, and everyone knew that when he came.

The club has splashed the cash this summer on some fine new signings for him to work with, so it will be shocking if he is sacked before the halfway point of the season.

The best teams build for the long-term, and that kind of view also shows that the club has the best heads making the decisions for it.

If United sacks Amorim after a few months on the job and after backing him with several new players who have not even settled in at the club, their decision-making will be called into question.

He is a coach who has been successful in Portugal, and the players seem keen on working for him, which is a recipe for success.

This means he can change the fortune of the club, and so he needs time to make this happen, and it will be ridiculous if the club now decides that it does not want to continue the project with him at the helm.

They know fans and neutral or even prospective new managers will question their decision-making if they sack Amorim, so they will keep him and give him more time to prove he will do the job.

Amorim will cost too much to sack

Amorim makes around £6.5m per season at United, which is his base salary, and he makes more money from the club via bonuses.

This makes him a top earner, and his coaches also earn really good salaries to work at Old Trafford, so he would not be cheap to get rid of them.

United has never been afraid to sack managers and has spent more than €40 million on just bringing new managers to the club since Ferguson left.

They paid the full €10 million release clause on Amorim’s contract to get him from Sporting Lisbon and paid even more for him to move to Old Trafford with his coaches.

After investing those huge sums of money just a year ago, United stands to pay him €12 million now if they decide to end his time on their bench.

For a team that has been saving costs for much of the last few months, that seems to be too much money for them to spend, and Ratcliffe would certainly rather keep him and hope that his team would play well enough to sell more Premier League tickets.

It will mean buying new players all over the place again

Paying him off would be a huge deal, but if United sacks Amorim, it would mean signing several new players for another coach.

Amorim’s system is much different from what another manager would want to use, so the current players on the United squad may no longer be relevant to their plans.

When Amorim arrived, there were so many winners and losers in the squad,  and that would happen all over again with a new manager.

United is one of the top clubs in the world, so anyone who wants to sell a player to them expects to make big money, and the club cannot afford to keep splashing the cash on several big-money stars every single summer, so they would be smart to stick to Amorim and allow him to get the best from his current group of stars.