boss

Selles had guided Reading to sixth in League One despite their off-field concerns when he left for East Yorkshire on 6 December.

Predecessor Walter had been relieved of his duties the previous week after a run of nine matches without a win.

Selles claimed his first win as Tigers boss with a 2-1 home victory over Swansea on 21 December to end a winless run of 13 matches.

Although they claimed notable results away from home under Selles, including wins at promotion-chasing Sheffield United and Sunderland, they found home wins incredibly hard to come by and ended the season with the worst home record in the division.

Defeats at the MKM Stadium by fellow strugglers Luton and Derby meant they went into the final game of the season in the Championship relegation zone.

Other fixtures meant a win would guarantee their survival and, although they were pegged back at Fratton Park after Matt Crooks had given them the lead, a point proved to be enough to keep them up on goal difference.

After the match Selles told BBC Radio Humberside: “Everyone in the club managed difficult moments and it has been a tough season for everyone and we deserved to stay in the division.

“We had a team that was rock bottom and to achieve the target this season with all the injuries and everything else is just massive.

“Now it’s over and we crossed the line, we can rest a little bit and I told the players that we will remember this day for years to come.”

The aftermath of the West Ham defeat has been filled with stories about the plans United’s hierarchy have put in place around the final.

Limits have been placed on the number of tickets players are allowed – and what staff are entitled to.

There will be no parade in the event of a win against Tottenham. Instead celebrations will be restricted to a low-key barbeque at the club’s Carrington training ground when Amorim’s squad return on Thursday.

Evidently, Amorim and his players have the financial muscle to pay for their friends and family to get to Bilbao if needed.

However, others who work closely with the first team are not in the same fortunate financial position.

So, at a time when a second round of up to 200 redundancies are planned following the 250 jobs that were axed last year, Amorim and his players have decided to help out by paying for some tickets for the backroom team’s families.

“The situation is simple,” he said. “We have a lot of things, with people leaving and a lot of changes in the staff, so at this moment in our club sometimes it is hard to know when to give and when to take.

“We have to respect the people whose jobs are being taken to survive and rebuild.

“It is complicated for the club to start giving to other members of staff, which makes it a really hard position.

“That situation was explained so my reaction was to help.

“It is not going to change my life [financially]. To help the staff be there and comfortable means they will be better staff for the final.

“We talk to the players and the players have the same reaction – everybody wants their families there.”

Amorim has his own experience of a Europa League final, as a player in the Benfica side beaten on penalties by Sevilla in Turin in 2014.

Aside from the £100m financial windfall that qualification for the Champions League would bring, as a straightforward football match Amorim knows next week is not a game to lose.

“I will never say I was a finalist,” he said. “The feeling has to be ‘what a waste of time’.

“My message to the players is we have to win or it doesn’t matter.”

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim says he is “far from quitting” his job after saying he may have to give the “space to different people” if their poor form continued following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat by West Ham in the Premier League.

READ MORE: How bad have Amorim’s United been in the Premier League?