Ruben Amorim advised ‘absolute shame’ Man Utd have been higher below Ruud van Nistelrooy
Ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara believes Manchester United ‘are an absolute disgrace’ and have actually regressed under Ruben Amorim since his arrival at Old Trafford
Former Tottenham midfielder turned pundit Jamie O’Hara has blasted Manchester United by branding them “an absolute disgrace”.
United are currently enduring a nightmare campaign following on from a season where they recorded their worst ever Premier League finish. Having sacked Erik ten Hag last year, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS-led board decided to appoint Ruben Amorim as the Dutchman’s successor.
But while there had been hope Amorim could turn around fortunes at Old Trafford, on the pitch, United look to be regressing fast. They recorded just two wins in the Premier League over the month of December, beating Everton 4-0 and Manchester City 2-1.
And during that time, they were resoundingly beaten by Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Wolves, Newcastle United and Tottenham in the Carabao Cup.
The most recent of those defeats saw them fall 2-0 to Eddie Howe’s Newcastle in their final game of 2024, a performance which saw Amorim’s side unable to get close to the Magpies during the opening half an hour of action at Old Trafford.
And speaking to Grosvenor Sport, talkSPORT pundit O’Hara believes United have been nothing short of “an absolute disgrace”, adding that they were actually better under now Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, who took over in the interim after Ten Hag’s sacking.
O’Hara said: “Manchester United for me are an absolute disgrace. They’ve brought in a new manager in Ruben Amorim but absolutely nothing’s changed – they were arguably better under Ruud van Nistelrooy.
“Sir Jim Ratcliffe has come in, given it large about bringing back the glory years at the club, but it seems he’s been focussed on being a penny pincher and trying to save money on stewards and staff lunches.
“They’re Manchester United – they’re meant to be the biggest club in the world. Ratcliffe has arguably embarrassed himself and it’s set such a poor foundation for Amorim to come into.
“You honestly may as well still have the Glazers in charge – at least they tried to spend a bit of money! Ratcliffe is paying Anthony £300k a week yet he’s penny pinching off staff and other areas in the club – it’s an absolute joke and it’s just not Manchester United for me.”
Off the pitch, United also look an even bigger mess too, with the futures of Marcus Rashford and now Joshua Zirkzee up the air following the latter’s first half substitution against Newcastle.
Co-owner Ratcliffe is currently embarking on a mass cost-cutting exercise across all areas of the club too, which has even seen United cut the amount of money they will give their own charity foundation this year.
He added: “I think Manchester United could finish in the bottom half of the Premier League this season. The ‘middle’ teams in the division are doing really well this year and are signing good players, whereas United are miles off it in my opinion.
“The highest paid players don’t even want to be there, they’re playing a formation that doesn’t suit the players, and the winning mentality at the club has gone.
“These players must be looking at the new ownership group that have come in and saying, ‘who are these guys who are running things now?’ You wouldn’t see this at Manchester City or even Liverpool.
“I’m not happy about the way INEOS are running things. They’re meant to be the biggest club in the world, yet they’re not acting like it at the moment. It could be a while before the break back into the top half.”
