‘I want to talk to the player’

Ruben Amorim looks forward to Ineos director Sir David Brailsford creating a ‘culture’ at Manchester United and has explained his own non-negotiables.

Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag as Manchester Utd head coach earlier this month and takes charge of his first game against Ipswich on Sunday.

He is the first executive appointment in the Ineos era – led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Amorim discussed the hierarchy at Old Trafford in an interview with Gary Neville.

He said: “Dave Brailsford is known for creating cultures. Of course it’s different sports, but he can prove that he can create winning cultures and strong cultures. We need that at the club. We don’t need to hide that.

“Then we have Dan Ashworth. Dan is well known here in England. He holds the same position as Sporting’s Hugo Viana (future Manchester City director of football).

“One of the things that must be practical to explain is that it is important when a coach says something, then you have someone like Dan who says the same thing to the players. This connection is so important in the club.

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“Then the player will talk to an agent and the agent will talk to Dan and he’ll hear the same thing. This is so important because the players will feel like there’s nowhere to run or there’s nowhere to hide So we have to be on the same page.

“Then you’ve got Jason Wilcox, he’s the technical director. It’s so important because for me we’ve got to improve Carrington with the youth teams. So we’ve got to create a profile for the type of players you want in the first team. We have to improve. We have good players but we should be better from what I saw.”

Asked what his non-negotiables are, Amorim said: “You can say the beautiful things like work hard, be professional. You should be. This is Manchester United. At any club (you should be), but here, of course, you can’t run away from it.

“The goal is to think first in the team. So I know sometimes some guys want to play in a different position, but they have to understand the position and they have to fight for the team. As a former player, I know every trick.

“I can understand the players. I can understand what they do, why they do it. If they do it for the team, I will defend them to the end.

“I can lose my job before I throw a player under the bus. But if he doesn’t put the team first, I will be the first to talk to the player.”

Amorim continued: “I know our fans are mixed feelings at the moment – “I want to be excited but I’ve been here so I’m a bit scared. It’s the same story all the time. I may be disappointed.’

“So what I can say is that I’m really excited. I’m not afraid to show it. But I have a clear idea that it will take time.

“Don’t mistake my happiness for naivety. It’s not the same. I’m really happy.

“I know what to do. But I have an idea that we’re going to suffer a little bit before we improve the way you should improve.”