‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe should let Ruben Amorim spend at Man Utd – new boss deserves significantly better’

Ruben Amorim has been house hunting in the affluent suburbs of Cheshire.

But he must be tempted to put the viewings on hold and stick to the Manchester hotel room he’s been holed up in since arriving from Lisbon in November. Putting down some roots in the north west is becoming less appealing with every home game Manchester United play.

A string of damaging defeats at Old Trafford have left Amorim admitting what most people think – that he is managing one of the worst squads and teams in the club’s long and storied history. No one is disagreeing with him.

But for a United manager like him to actually admits as such is as shocking as it is applaudable.

I’ve lost count of the years I’ve spent sat listening to bland nonsense from managers. Tired cliches and economical truths that insult a journalist’s intelligence. But Amorim is different.

Likeable and intelligent, Amorim refuses to duck whatever is thrown at him from the floor. He tells it how it is, irrespective of if it upsets some people.

And what a message he’s sent to co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. In the wake of United’s third home loss in the last four outings, this time to Brighton, Amorim pulled no punches.

“We are the worst team, maybe in the history of Manchester United,” he said without flinching, “I am saying that because we have to acknowledge that and to change that, too.”

In other words uncle Jim, forget about cost cutting measures like redundancies, cancelling Christmas parties and hiking up ticket prices. Spend some money, instead of being so obsessed with saving the stuff.

Because there’s no point hiring the right coach, then giving him the wrong team to manage. That’s like buying a Ferrari then filling it up with diesel. Amorim deserves better. Much better.

He deserves to have a fighting chance of returning United to former glories, to lead them out of the shadow Sir Alex Ferguson still casts over the whole club. But instead he is being tasked with achieving mission impossible, with both hands tied behind his back.

One quick look at the United team shows there is not one single player, with perhaps the exception of Bruno Fernandes, who would get into the Liverpool team. And Liverpool are the team which for decades United have measured themselves against.

The problem with managing a club the size of United is that the job can engulf you. David Moyes admitted as such both during and after his ill-fated spell as manager. The scrutiny, intensity, pressure, expectation and intrusion is incomparable to most other clubs in the world. And if you let it, the role will chew you up and spit you out.

But Amorim has something about him. He appears to have some gumption and backbone. He’s brave enough to make big calls and has a clear vision of what he wants to do, moving forward. Managers don’t tend to get time, but Amorim needs at least two years to rebuild his team from back to front.

It promises be a long road, but returning to Portugal cannot be an option for him, however tempting it might be right now.