RUBEN Amorim has warned his stumbling stars: You’re the engine of this club – so start driving us forward.
Amorim’s under-performers have picked up just 15 points from 15 games since he arrived in November, and Manchester United are heading for their worst since relegation in 1974.
Their Old Trafford clash with Ipswich tomorrow is a repeat of the Portuguese gaffer’s first game in charge, in November, with United far closer to the drop zone than European one.
Morale was already plummeting as quickly as the team’s league position even before Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s initial round of 250 job cuts over the last 12 months.
And Monday’s news that minority investor Ratcliffe plans to axe another 200 at the end of the season has sent it sliding to rock bottom.
Amorim has already admitted the ultimate blame for any cost-cutting stems from a lack of success on the field.
Now he has hammered home the message to his red-faced Reds, as they go into a game they’d have once been expected to stroll, yet now cannot be tipped to win with any belief.
Amorim insisted: “It is that we have to address all the problems in the club but one important piece at this moment is to understand how we got to this situation.
“It’s a lot to do with the lack of success of the football team because we are the engine of the club… and I want to improve the players, the results and the team.
“It’s always hard for everybody, when they see their friend and team mates losing jobs, but we have to focus on what we can do in this moment.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D107838%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]
“We as a club have to understand what we did wrong to get this this and think in terms of solutions.
“We are in a difficult situation and have to fight against those feeling and fight to perform better.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Ruben Amorim apologises to Christian Eriksen for ‘misunderstanding’ after comments about Man Utd star’s heart situation ” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6369148385112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]United’s woeful season has seen them win just two Prem games at home – Everton and Southampton – and the seven defeats already is the same as the year they went down.
Amorim admits all the changes and cuts of Ratcliffe’s purse-tightening regime haven’t helped – yet stressed it all comes down to results.
He added: “This year was really hard for everybody, and we had a lot of changes. But if you have a team that is playing well and wining it is easier for people to understand them.
“But in this moment we are in a difficult period inside the club and on the pitch so we have to fight against this feeling, do our job and try our best to help the team to perform better
“I understand all the critics, you have to accept it and try to change it. But since I arrived I expect to win all the games at home.
“But I don’t feel the pressure because the supporters are amazing. We have to stop and think it is a new game, it can be a new story, so let’s go forward.”
On top of letting staff go, it was already revealed in the past week that United will be stopping free lunches for staff at Old Trafford, instead offering them fruit.
While those working at Carrington will lose access to the same menu as the players for their lunches from next season, instead being offered soup and sandwiches.
Financial results published last week showed the club owe £391m in transfer fees and have seen interest costs since the Glazer family took over in 2005 top £1billion.
While it was also revealed that United had spent a combined £14.5m to sack Erik ten Hag and his staff and let go of sporting director Dan Ashworth.