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Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has strongly disagreed with Sir Jim Ratcliffe over recent comments he made about Ruben Amorim.
Ratcliffe’s Amorim Claim
Amorim alleviated some of the pressure placed on his shoulders with the 2-0 win over Sunderland just before the October international break.
Before the win, however, the Portuguese coach was firmly in the spotlight as serious questions were asked about his long-term suitability for United.
Following the 3-1 defeat to Brentford, there were calls from some parts of the fanbase and media for Ratcliffe and the football management group to act quickly and part ways with Amorim. United have had a patchy start to the 2025/26 season and currently occupy 10th place in the Premier League.
There were suggestions that United were considering players such as Oliver Glasner, Andoni Iraola, Gareth Southgate and Michael Carrick (interim) as potential replacements for Amorim.
However, Ratcliffe quashed all speculation and publicly expressed his support for Amorim.
The INEOS billionaire insisted Amorim will be given at least three years to try to turn things around at Old Trafford. Ratcliffe drew parallels between Amorim and Mikel Arteta’s early struggles at Arsenal to illustrate his point.
However, Ferdinand believes there are minimal similarities between Amorim’s situation and the challenges Arteta faced at the start of his Arsenal tenure.
Ferdinand disputes Ratcliffe’s claim
Speaking of his Rio Ferdinand presents podcast, Ferdinand explained: “You know what, I just like to hear the people at the helm of a football club come out and speak. That’s what I love about Jim Ratcliffe.”
“I think he’s clearly gone on to a podcast to talk about something completely different, but that podcast clearly doesn’t allow him to ask him about Man United, so it’s just refreshing that someone in his position is actually talking.”
Ferdinand continued: “Do I agree with exactly what he said? “I understand the sentiment – when you go through the facts, I don’t think this is the right person to make a comparison with. Look at Arteta – there are similarities in some of the statistics.”
“The big one is that he improved the team from 10th to eighth in his first year. Amorim took his team from 14th to 15th. There was also flexibility in the way Arteta had his team.”
“I think he had about seven different formations in his first 50 games, just trying things out. The line of improvement would have been a bit more consistent, and you say, ‘I see it happening’. Whereas with Amorim, you look at him and there’s not as much consistency or positives to come out of it, you say, ‘Oh, I can see it really clearly, it hits me between the eyes, I couldn’t let this guy go.’
“I think we are in a phase with United and Amorim at the moment. [where] I just want to see the consistency of some of the results, the performance beyond that, and the idea that you think, ‘Oh, I see this training ground is really paying off.’
“The consistency with all three of those different elements isn’t there right now, and I hope he can do that well.”
United are back in action on Sunday when they play Liverpool at Anfield.
Featured image Gareth Copley via Getty Images
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