Man Utd: Sir Jim Ratcliffe tells Gary Neville sticking with Erik ten Hag in the summer was a mistake but Ruben Amorim doing 'excellent job'

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says it was a mistake not to sack Erik ten Hag in the summer – but has praised the "excellent job" current head coach Ruben Amorim is doing.

Ten Hag was handed an extended contract at Old Trafford after United beat Man City in the FA Cup final but was then sacked nine games into this campaign.

Speaking to Sky Sports' Gary Neville, Ratcliffe says his newly-assembled leadership team of chief executive Omar Berrada, INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford and the club's technical director Jason Wilcox failed to come to the right conclusion on Ten Hag's future.

Man Utd are now 14th in the Premier League table, 36 points behind Liverpool, who are set to match Untied's record of 20 league titles.

However, Ratcliffe says he can see signs of progress under Amorim, despite the Portuguese winning just five of his 17 Premier League games in charge.

"It was too early for us to make a big decision in reality," said Ratcliffe when explaining their decision-making in the summer.

"We hadn't been together as a team for very long. It was just a matter of weeks and it's quite a big decision, isn't it? And also, it's quite difficult. It was quite difficult to extract in that season when we arrived, Erik's performance from the structure around him.

"Obviously the structure around [Amorim] now is completely different. There's a really strong relationship and a really strong support culture for Ruben. Jason and Ruben talk to each other two or three times a day, Omar speaks to Ruben every day, every time I go to the match I speak to Ruben.

"But it was quite difficult to see what environment Erik was operating in. Was it, in other words, was the erratic performance a function of Erik, or was it a function of the organisation? And we couldn't really get to the bottom of answering that question with certainty, I suppose, so we gave Erik the benefit of the doubt."

Asked by Neville if he regrets that now, Ratcliffe said: "Yeah, it was the wrong decision. We made the wrong decision. It was an error. So yeah, I suppose in that sense I regret it.

"I think there was some extenuating or mitigating circumstances in having made that decision, but at the end of the day it was the wrong decision, so hands up, me of course on that one."

Ratcliffe: Amorim has done an excellent job in the circumstances

While United languish in the bottom half of the Premier League table they do have a shot at making the Europa League quarter-finals, with the second leg of their last-16 tie with Real Sociedad - which stands level on 1-1 - to be played on Thursday at Old Trafford.

Winning the Europa League would not only earn Amorim his first piece of silverware in charge of United but it would also qualify the club for Champions League football next season and the financial boost competing in that competition brings.

Speaking the day after Man Utd's 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal in the Premier League, Ratcliffe backed the work of Amorim so far.

"I think Ruben has done an excellent job," said Ratcliffe.

"I really like Ruben. I think in the circumstances… I mean he arrived mid-season, he didn't have time to train his players in the way in which he wants to play, he inherited a squad which he's had no influence on, and the squad isn't necessarily designed for the way in which he plays football, and English isn't his natural language, and he's never played in the Premier League before, and he's managing the biggest club in the world, and it's a tough place, and he's a young guy.

"If you take all of that into consideration, I think he's done a remarkably good job."

Amorim working with squad on salary bill similar to Everton, given injuries

When asked by Neville what parts of the job he is referring to, Ratcliffe said: "I think what he's got out of the players that he's got available, I think he's done well with.

"If I look at the salary bill of the squad that's available to him, that salary bill is not the salary bill of Manchester City or Liverpool, it's a fraction of it.

"If you look at the salary bill of the players that are available to him that are not injured, or not out on loan, because we've got, you know, we've got Antony out on loan, we've got [Jadon] Sancho out on loan, we've got [Marcus] Rashford out on loan, we've got Mason Mount who hasn't really played in the last two seasons, we've got Luke Shaw who hasn't played in the last two seasons.

"So if you modify our salary bill for the players that are not available to Ruben, then our salary bill ranks us about, you know, middling, second half of the table. We're sort of level with the likes of a Nottingham Forest or Everton, not a Manchester City one.

"That salary bill, if you look at that salary bill, is probably about £130m, and we're talking about Liverpool who's got a salary bill of £200m, Manchester City have got a salary bill of £300m, so that's the squad that Ruben's playing with."

Watch the full interview available on the Overlap YouTube Channel.

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