Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has addressed the most recent round of redundancies at Old Trafford and Carrington in his latest press conference as well as the club’s wider finances.
Speaking before a crucial clash against Spurs which has already been dubbed the ‘Calamatico’, with both teams struggling for form as their both Amorim and opposite number Ange Postecoglu remain hell-bent on sticking to their tactics, the 40-year-old was quizzed ahead of yet more layoffs within the business.
It was only last autumn that co-owner Sim Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS Group made 250 employees redundant as one of his first major edicts in charge of the club and it is now being heavily reported that at least another 100 staff are set to lose their jobs if not more.
Although he wouldn’t be drawn into the discussion too much, Amorim did reflect on the evident and continued cost-cutting taking place around United and crucially argued that the talk of more redundancies is and should be on everyone’s minds.
🎥-🔴 Ruben Amorim on staff members losing their jobs
🗣️ “It’s really important for us in the first team, coaches and players, to not ignore that. People are losing their jobs so we have to acknowledge that the biggest problem is the football team.”
“I think it’s really important for us in the first team, coaches and players, to not ignore that,” he began. “People are losing their jobs so we have to acknowledge that the biggest problem is the football team.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Because we spend the money, we are not winning; we’re not in the Champions League, so the revenues are not the same, and we spent a lot of money in the past so now we have to be careful with the finances.”
He goes on to say that while he and the board cannot rebuild the team the way they and the fans would no doubt like as a result of this, he reiterated that people losing employment is the most pressing concern and that a lack of job security is obviously going to affect the mood around the club.
ADVERTISEMENT
United have lost over £300 million over the last three years, with large severance fees paid to the likes of Erik ten Hag when he was sacked, along with coaching staff.
Most notably, INEOS also let sporting director Dan Ashworth go just after paying a premium to hire him for just five months – a head-scratching decision which further rubbed supporters the wrong way after having just made 250 staff redundant.
“We cannot ignore [the redundancies]”, Amorim continued, adding that “the responsibility is on the first team and we have to change that.”
ADVERTISEMENT
He went even further to add that in order “to change that, the first thing that we should do is to [beat] Tottenham – that is the small step to try to help these people, to try not to push the prices of the tickets higher.”
It’s the first time Amorim has spokenly openly about fan frustration following the £66 ticket price hike which was announced towards the end of 2024, and it seems he made it pretty clear what he thinks of it.
The job losses, targeting of concessions, reduction/removal of bonuses and limited activity in the January window United are just a reaction to the loss of income either.
United remains in large sums of debt and are said to still owe approximately £319m in unpaid transfer fees alone, so cutbacks were always going to happen, but Amorim clearly believes that the simplest thing he and his squad can do is still improve their fortunes on the pitch.
United fans will definitely be relieved to hear that Amorim aligns with their sentiment and was quick to hold himself and the players accountable for the impending redundancies and more, even if many missteps were before his time.
ADVERTISEMENT
More importantly, everyone around the club seems to be in agreeance with one core, underlying factor: the performances just haven’t been good enough and business decisions aside, that has to be the priority in order for other aspects to improve in turn.
With United and Spurs 14th and 15th in the Premier League table, respectively, and both figures in the dugout under pressure, there’s a lot riding on Sunday’s fixture down in the capital.
You can watch the first half of Amorim’s pre-match press conference HERE and the previously embargoed section down below:
Featured Images — Manchester United (screenshot via YouTube)/The Manc Group
Sport
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
🔵 Subscribe to our Manchester City page on BBC Sounds for the latest interviews. #MCFC#bbcfootball
Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Sale Sharks sign highly-rated Harlequins hooker, Nathan Jibulu
Danny Jones
Sale Sharks are investing in youth with their latest bit of transfer business after signing one of the Harlequins’ hottest prospects, Nathan Jibulu.
The highly-rated hooker, who has already nine appearances this season, including more than half a dozen in the Gallagher Premiership, has been exciting plenty of scouts throughout rugby union and is already firmly in national team plans.
Having already been part of the England Under-20 and A squads, not to mention impressing at club level in a relatively short space of time, it’s a big coup for Sale.
From the Quins academy to the right side of Shark-infested waters.
Jibulu joined the Twickenham-based outfit back in 2022 just a year after they won their second English championship (a full decade since their first) after previously attending Seaford College and representing nearby Wimbledon Warriors.
However, now the six-foot and seriously strong forward will be swapping the life near the capital for the North and Greater Manchester, specifically.
Set to join Sale Sharks for the 2025/26 season – scheduled to kick off in September – he’s looking like a really strong addition to their front row and a future squads to come.
Speaking to the club in an official statement, he said: “When I was younger, whenever someone asked me, ‘what team would you want to play for?’ I’d always say Sale…
“I’ve scrummed a lot with Asher [Opoku-Fordjour] and I got to know him pretty well. I always tell him how special and different he is, and I can’t wait to play with him.
“The way the club has developed him and nurtured him to become an established Premiership and England player speaks volumes about the coaching and the support that he’s getting at Sale.
“The entire front row is in the England squad, with the Curry boys too, so that tells you that someone at the club is doing something right. I looked at that and I said, ‘why would you not want to be there?’”
Still just 22 years old and having made just as many appearances for his soon-to-be former club, Sale weren’t the only ones chasing his signature.
Jibulu went on to add: “I love those games where you go toe-to-toe physically, so all of that attracted me straight away, and then speaking to people who are there already, they said all the stuff that I really like so it was a no brainer when the opportunity came about.”
As for his impending coach, Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson said: “Nathan is really driven, he understands what he wants from his life and his career, and he knows how he’s going to get it.
“He’s a young lad but he’s incredibly mature and he’s got the game and the physical attributes to match. I’ve got no doubt he’ll play for England in the future and we’re really excited to bring him to the club.”
Currently sat seventh in the table after another at times promising but somewhat frustrating start to the year, the summer can’t come soon enough for Sale.
Danny Jones -
16th February 2025 
