Amorim says team to blame for United's financial woes

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Ahead of another round of job cuts at Manchester United, head coach Ruben Amorim said his underperforming team must take its share of the blame for the club's financial woes.

Up to 200 jobs will go as part of cost-cutting measures at Old Trafford, following around 250 layoffs last year.

"Of course we have to address all the problems in the club. But one important piece of this moment is to understand how we get this situation. It has to do a lot with the lack of success with the football team, because I think we are the engine of any football club,” Amorim said Tuesday.

United announced plans Monday to “transform its corporate structure,” with confirmation of more job losses. The announcement came after the 20-time English champion and one of the most famous sports teams in the world raised the price of tickets partway through the season.

In a letter to supporters last month, United said its losses of more than 300 million pounds ($375 million) over the past three years were unsustainable and it was in danger of breaching the Premier League's financial rules.

The club reported losses last year of 113.2 million pounds ($142 million) for the year ending June 30 and on Monday said it had endured five straight loss-making years.

Breaching the league's financial rules carries a potential penalty of points deductions.

The latest cost-cutting announcement comes a year after British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe bought into the club with the aim of returning it to the summit of English and European soccer.

So far that has not gone to plan, with United languishing in the bottom half of the standings and looking a long way off being able to compete at the top again.

“I just want to help the club and my department is to improve the team and improve the players and to have success," Amorim said ahead of Wednesday's home game against Ipswich.

"We have to focus (on) what I can do to help the club in this moment and we, as a club, has to understand what we did wrong to get this situation. We need to think in solutions in this moment.”

United hasn't won the title since 2013 in former manager Alex Ferguson's final season in charge.

Since then, Manchester City has gone on to dominate English soccer and this season Liverpool looks set to equal United's record of 20 league titles.

___

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer