Sir Jim Ratcliffe told Ruben Amorim he sees this season as the head coach's first in charge of Manchester United, a move that could backfire with the team struggling badly.
Ruben Amorim can't watch
View 3 Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe may well be regretting telling Ruben Amorim he sees this season as the start of his head coach's Manchester United tenure.
Amorim revealed as much recently, when asked what was discussed at a meeting between him and United co-owner Ratcliffe ahead of the team's 2-1 win over Chelsea.
“He was explaining that it's a long project,” said Amorim. “He [Ratcliffe] said many times that this is my first season. For me, it's not.”
Amorim's admission that he does not see this as his first season in charge, as if last term's shocking results and performances can just be consigned to the dustbin, flies in the face of Ratcliffe's take on it.
If Ratcliffe does see this season as the start of Amorim's reign and has written off last season's lowest-ever Premier League finish of 15th and the failure to qualify for Europe, why were he and chief executive Omar Berrada so determined to get their Portuguese head coach in position last season?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Co-owner of Manchester United, looks on before the trophy presentation after the UEFA Europa League Final 2025 between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at Estadio de San Mames on May 21, 2025 in Bilbao, Spain
United co-owner Ratcliffe said he sees this season as Amorim's first in charge of the team
View 3 Images
After all, Amorim has gone on the record as saying he wanted to see out the remainder of last season at Sporting Lisbon, then take over at United, giving him a full pre-season and a summer transfer window with his new club.
Yet Amorim was told by Berrada, back in October, following the sacking of Erik ten Hag that it was “now or never” and that United would look elsewhere for a new head coach if he was unwilling to leave mid-season to make the move to take over at Old Trafford.
Given the calamities that unfolded last season at United under Amorim, the 40-year-old's initial wish to stay on at Sporting until the summer was vindicated, with his side lurching from one crushing defeat to another, culminating in their meek Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in Bilbao, which saw the team miss out on Europe for only the second time in 35 years.
Ruben Amorim on the touchline at Brentford
Amorim has won just nine of his 33 Premier League games since taking over at United
View 3 Images
The problem with Ratcliffe choosing to frame this season as Amorim's first in charge is that it is impossible to view this season's results – which have been just as underwhelming as last season – in isolation, given United's players are clearly suffering a hangover - emotionally and psychologically - from last term's embarrassing finish, the club's lowest for half a century.
The failure to qualify for Europe means United have no midweek games this season and no midweek domestic fixtures, following their humiliating EFL Cup exit at League Two Grimsby. That means they have to wait an entire week for the opportunity to atone for a defeat or poor performance, which is again a legacy of last season, one Ratcliffe wants everyone – Amorim included – to forget ever happened.
But Amorim is smarter than that. He knows he is being judged as much on last season as this one and that unless he can oversee a dramatic turnaround in results, starting with Saturday's visit of Sunderland to Old Trafford, Ratcliffe and the United hierarchy may be forced to take action to arrest the team's continued slide.
In that context, last season is proving every bit as damaging as this one for Amorim and cannot simply be airbrushed from memory.