Sir Jim Ratcliffe Finally Speaks Out on Man Utd Decision to Sack Ruben Amorim

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has spoken out on Ruben Amorim's sacking for the first time.

Amorim was sacked by United on January 5, the day after a 1-1 draw at Leeds United.

In an explosive post-match press conference at Elland Road - which proved to be his last in charge - Amorim stated that he had joined United to be 'a manager, not the coach', highlighting apparent tensions between himself and the club hierarchy.

According to The Telegraph, Amorim 'blew up' during a meeting after director of football Jason Wilcox had proposed a potential change in tactical system.

Wilcox and United chief executive Omar Berrada were involved in the decision to sack the Portuguese boss, as per The Athletic.

Ratcliffe's involvement in the decision was not made clear, with the British billionaire stating three months earlier that he would not make any 'kneejerk' decision over Amorim and wanted to give him three years to prove himself.

But he has now had to pay significant compensation to a second sacked manager in just 15 months, having decided to sack Erik ten Hag in October 2024 despite giving him a new contract in the summer.

According to the Daily Mail, Amorim was given a £10 million pay-off by United, with the club having spent approximately £8.7 million on compensation to Ten Hag.

Now, in an interview with Sky News, Ratcliffe has expressed his view on Amorim's departure for the first time.

While not directly referencing Amorim, Ratcliffe - who is worth around $17.5 billion, as per Forbes - stated that he had made 'unpopular decisions' at Manchester United, though he was also seemingly referring to mass criticism over his decision to cut 450 non-footballing jobs at the club.

You can see a longer clip of interview below.

"If you do difficult things, which we felt that we had to do at Manchester United... we felt like they were the right things to do," Ratcliffe said. "But you do become very unpopular for a while.

"Well, I've been very unpopular at Manchester United because we've made lots of changes. But for the better, in my view. And I think we're beginning to see some evidence in the football club that that's beginning to pay off."

He then compared United to his personal stance on immigration, claiming: "If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration, with people opting to take benefits rather than working for a living, if you want to deal with that, then you're going to have to do some things which are unpopular and show some courage."

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called on Ratcliffe to apologise for his comments on immigration, with the 73-year-old - who lives in Monaco - having claimed in the same interview that the UK has been 'colonised by immigrants'. The INEOS founder used factually incorrect population change figures to support his claim.

Starmer said that Britain is a 'proud, tolerant and diverse country'.