Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has addressed paying for staff to take their families to the Europa League final out of his own pocket. The club’s part-owners, INEOS, offered staff members the option to purchase two tickets instead of funding a complimentary trip to Bilbao.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co. have set about slashing the costs of running United in order to allocate more money to improving the squad. They saved up to £10million by making 250 staff redundant last year, and have since followed that up with another round of lay-offs which could affect 200 jobs.
United have had a miserable season but Amorim could cap it off on a positive note by beating Tottenham in the Basque Country next week. And he is so determined for the whole club to be on board with their potential success that he claims forking out for the tickets himself was an easy decision.
“The situation is simple,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We know that we have had a lot of things with people leaving and changes in the staff. In this moment, in our club, sometimes it is hard [to know] when to give and when to take.
“It is complicated for the club to start giving to other members of staff. It is a really hard position. That situation was explained and in that moment I could help. It is not going to change my life to help the staff to be there, to be better for the final.
“All the players had the same reaction. Everyone wants the staff there, their families there. It is hard to manage things in our club, so it is a simple thing.”
United are planning to hold a low-key barbecue at their Carrington training complex if they win Europe’s second-tier club competition, rather than celebrate with an open-top bus parade.
Amorim has made it clear that the club’s focus should be on returning to the Champions League, which should give them the opportunity to target a higher-calibre players during the upcoming transfer window. And a Europa League victory would catapult them straight into league phase for next season.
“Personally for me, I think the Champions League is more important for everything, to prepare the next season,” said the Portuguese. “We are supposed to be in the Champions League; the Europa League here is not enough. This is the best way to get us to the top in a few years.”
