Sport

Ruben Amorim addresses the latest round of redundancies at Manchester United

The Portuguese head coach was quick to argue that he and the team shoulder the responsibility.

Danny Jones - 16th February 2025

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.”

pic.twitter.com/bdjVFa3yjT
— Beyond United (@BeyondUTD1) February 16, 2025

“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.

“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.

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.

How much money Manchester United spent on Dan Ashworth only for him to leave five months later

“We cannot ignore [the redundancies]”, Amorim continued, adding that “the responsibility is on the first team and we have to change that.”

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.

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: