When Ruben Amorim accepted the role of Manchester United manager last November, he thought he was taking charge of one of the biggest football teams in the world. But now he's seen what's going on behind the scenes at Old Trafford and he's uncovered the reality that the club was allowed to rot from within for the better part of a decade.

Only Amorim knows the real motivation behind his decision to describe his side as "perhaps the worst team in Manchester United's history" following Sunday's 3-1 home defeat to Brighton. It was United's sixth home defeat in 12 games, their fourth home league defeat in five and having already suffered six home league defeats this season, statisticians had to go back to the 1893-94 season to find A Manchester United team with a worse home record, losing seven of 12 games at the time.

Things are bad; it's the club's bleakest period since the start of the Premier League era in 1992. But when you consider that United were relegated from the top flight in 1974, some historical context suggests that Amorim's comments smacked of exaggeration rather than genuine belief in United - who have played their last two away games in the FA Cup. Drawing with Liverpool and defeating Arsenal in a penalty shootout set a new low.

Indeed, Manchester United is no longer Manchester United. After Sir Alex Ferguson resigned as manager in 2013, a club that had dominated the Premier League and won 13 of its first 20 titles no longer prioritized success on the pitch. Amorim is now paying a heavy price for this.

It was a slow transition at first, with United initially hiring and signing big-name managers and players in the post-Ferguson era. But with both Ferguson and long-serving chief executive David Gill stepping down at the same time, former commercial director Ed Woodward, who was appointed executive vice-chairman by the club's owners, the Glazer family, began to prioritize off-field success.

Indeed, if Amorim wants to get to the root of the problems he inherited, he needs to go back to 2018, when Woodward publicly spelled out the importance of a winning team at Old Trafford.

"Game performance doesn't really have a significant impact on our business on the commercial side," Woodward said during a conference call with United investors. On the same call, Woodward boasted that United's YouTube channel has more than 1,000 subscribers to its YouTube channel. The NFL's Dallas Cowboys and MLB's New York Yankees. As for the football team, its progress or shortcomings are not worth mentioning.

When a team doesn't need to win to keep its owner happy, the slide toward mediocrity is inevitable. That's why United have now reached the point where their new manager finds himself leading the club's weakest side in living memory and perhaps its worst since relegation 51 years ago.

United have certainly spent a lot of money since Woodward talked about the team not needing to win for the club to make money, only Chelsea have spent more than United at £1.02bn since 2018, but lack strategy, expertise and senior Competencies in positions lead to a series of hiring mistakes.

The transfer fees for forward Rasmus Hojlund (£64 million) and winger Anthony (£80.75 million) were ridiculously high, and Manchester United academy forward Marcus Rashford received a five-year, A contract worth £325,000-a-week despite Manchester United's lack of interest in the player. Rival clubs and a range of players - Casemiro, Raphael Varane, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani - are regarded as their best The days are over when they signed expensive contracts.

Instead of following the plan, United acted like a desperate shopper looking to buy some expensive brand name on Christmas Eve because they were attracted by the price on the ticket rather than the value.

Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose Ineos team oversees football operations, bought a 27% stake as a minority shareholder in February last year, with the hierarchy that led to United's failure getting a new chief executive, sporting director and technology DIRECTOR – An overhaul under Athletic Director Dan Ashworth. He was fired after just five months on the job, but the bad decisions of the past are far from being resolved.

Ineos inherits a club that needs to break up an unbalanced squad while adhering to the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). Their own mistakes - extending head coach Erik ten Hag's contract and sacking him four months later - compounded the problem, but Amorim has mainly dealt with the hand the Glazers have dealt to Ineos .

The former Sporting CP coach inherits a team built by four different managers. It lacks a reliable goalkeeper and a healthy left-back, while in midfield Amorim has realized that neither Casemiro nor Christian Eriksen have the energy to perform in the Premier League.

Although both Joshua Zirkzee and Hojlund are not enough to meet the needs of most top-flight teams, these two young players are now Amorim's only options in the front line, because Amorim The decision was made to pass on the rapidly declining Rashford and listen to offers for Anthony. Despite his high transfer fee, he never looked like a Premier League player.

Without the goal from Amad, Manchester United's top scorer this season, Amorim's 13th-place team would be in a relegation battle.

Perhaps Amorim was trying to provoke a reaction from underperforming players by describing them as the worst team in United's history. He may also have sent a distress signal to his bosses in an attempt to force them to sign new players in January despite being restricted by the PSR.

Amorim is right to be concerned. This United team is terrible and now the club has suffered a series of losses off the pitch, with Woodward's comments about not needing to win to make money proving to be as ridiculous as they seemed when he made them.

The new manager has identified a problem that will require major surgery, but he will need Ineos to remain calm and support him to put football first again at Old Trafford.