Pundit thinks Amorim should rein in spirit of honesty and “stop offering yourself up”
Former Manchester United captain and club icon Gary Neville has called on manager Ruben Amorim to stop putting himself out for criticism and focus on the difficult task of building a competitive United squad and changing the club’s fortunes on the pitch.
Following United’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final, Amorim suggested he would be willing to resign if the club no longer agreed with his methods. Neville, however, believes such statements are counterproductive.
“It gets to a point now whereby he offered up his job on Wednesday night and said if I have to resign, I will. You don’t need to do that, Ruben. You don’t need to offer up your job,” Neville said.
“It’s great that you have that spirit and that honesty about you and that authenticity, but now it’s time for you to stop offering yourself up, stop in some ways being as honest with us, and just go and fix the problems in the transfer window and fix the problems for the start of the season. That’s what’s needed now.”
Amorim arrived at the club after Erik ten Hag was sacked in October due to poor results that left United 14th in the league. However, the Portuguese himself hasn’t had much success and results appear to have worsened. United ended the season with a win at Aston Villa, but it was only their fourth in the Premier League this year and Amorim’s side finished in 15th place, one place worse than when Ten Hag was sacked. Despite these setbacks, Neville believes the 40-year-old remains the right man to turn things around.
“He’s been given a contract, he told them he didn’t want to come in the middle of a season and obviously they convinced him to come,” said Neville.
“He knew it would be difficult to implement this system during the middle of a season, and it’s been very difficult to do so. However, pre-season now is everything and he’s got to put all focus onto that.”
