Ruben Amorim believes Manchester United employees made redundant are “paying the price” for poor on‑field performance and that recruitment has to improve to address the problem.
Omar Berrada, United’s chief executive, confirmed on Monday that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is to cut up to another 200 jobs after 250 people were made unemployed last year. Amorim was asked how the remaining staff and fans could be confident this will help the club to prosper.
“It’s easy for me to say all the pretty stuff,” the head coach said. “We have to improve recruitment, that is crucial, and we need to improve the team.
“They are paying the price for our lack of success and I can’t say anything now that is going to convince the fans and all the staff that we’re going to do it. We have an idea but we need to be a better team and recruit better and not make a lot of mistakes in that department.”
United are 15th, 13 points above Ipswich, who are third bottom and visit Old Trafford on Wednesday. Amorim does not believe the low morale caused by the redundancies will affect the players.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but the players don’t feel it too much, they have one life, they live in a bubble,” he said.
“It’s completely different for them than it is for me, Andrew [Ward, the press officer], for everybody in the club. They feel the pressure that they need to win at Manchester United and every time we lose and every time they don’t perform there are a lot of people on social media and in the newspapers putting on a lot of pressure.
“Then they go to the pitch and try to fix things but not in a good way: thinking too much, not playing the way they’re supposed to play. They don’t feel that pressure of people losing their job – they are young kids [some of them] that live in a different world – but they suffer a different pressure and sometimes it’s harder.”
Amorim said he did not know when Luke Shaw would return from his latest injury – “He’s doing rehab but we don’t have a date for him” – and that Mason Mount, who has a thigh problem, was closer to being available.
