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Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim isn’t actively reaching out to media outlets for interviews. He’s merely meeting his contractual media duties, a new report has revealed.
Since Amorim’s arrival as Erik ten Hag’s replacement in November last year, he has endured a difficult time at United, only winning six of the 25 Premier League games he has taken charge of.
Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham made it 17 top-flight defeats for United this term, nine of which have come at home. The result left the Red Devils languishing in 16th place in the table with just two games left to play.
Their 17 league losses overall are the most United have suffered in a league campaign since 1973/74 (20), when they were relegated to the second tier. United have trailed in 19 of their 25 league games. Only relegated duo Southampton (21) and Leicester City (23) have fallen behind in more matches.
To make matters worse, Amorim’s win rate of just 24% is the lowest of any Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, with David Moyes holding the next-worst record.
Amorim’s situation has been further complicated by the relentless media appearances and interviews, which have seemingly become a near-daily routine.
It’s now become common to see the Portuguese coach in front of the cameras, and this trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by some fans who’ve raised concerns about how he’s expected to effectively coach the team when so much of his time appears to be spent speaking to the media.
On Monday, Sky Sports released a promotional clip from Amorim’s pre-match interview ahead of Friday’s clash with Chelsea, and the comments section was flooded with complaints from frustrated United fans.
The Daily Mail has now set the record straight, though it’s surprising they even had to, confirming that Amorim isn’t the one calling up media outlets to arrange sit-downs.
According to the newspaper, “Confidential understands that Amorim only does what he is contractually obliged to do under Premier League rules. And even though United try to keep it to a minimum, the current total is still a staggering 491.”
“The deal sold to broadcasters by the league entitles them to interview every manager for 15 minutes before every game, and Amorim gets more airtime simply because he is head coach of the biggest club in the country.”
“Broadcasters take up their full contractual rights with United, but don’t with some of the smaller clubs, and then push the interview more heavily on social media because it gets more clicks.”
The Mail explain that Amorim is required to do seven interviews with broadcasters after every Premier League match.
After this, the 40-year-old will then do a routine post-match presser and if the game was shown live, he is mandated to give his remarks to whichever broadcaster televised it.
Outside of matchdays, Amorim conducts a weekly pre-match press conference and is also required to sit down with either Sky, the BBC, or TNT, depending on who’s broadcasting the game, prior to each televised fixture. Additionally, he records a separate interview with United’s in-house media team ahead of every league match.
Soon after his appointment, Amorim revealed that he had done more interviews in his first week at Old Trafford than the four years he spent at Sporting CP.
Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images
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