MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Ruben Amorim has acknowledged he might have made a mistake when he went public in describing his team as “the worst, maybe, in the history of Manchester United.”
Just don’t expect him to hold back his opinions going forward.
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Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim gestures during a training session in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Manchester United and Rangers FC. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim follows the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim follows the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim gestures during a press conference in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Manchester United and Rangers FC. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)
“If you want, I can be delusional and say different things,” Amorim said Wednesday at his first news conference since his remark that captured headlines and widespread attention.
“I say it as I saw it. I said it to the players and I said to you,” he told reporters. “I think it’s a good thing to be honest. If you want me to say different things — you saw one thing, I saw one thing — I can start to do that. It’s easier for me. But what I’m seeing, they know. If you are in the stadium, you can understand. Let’s face it and work on it.”
Amorim’s eye-catching comment about United's current plight came after a 3-1 home loss to Brighton in the Premier League on Sunday.
It was a fourth loss in United’s last five home games in the league, and a seventh defeat in 15 games in all competitions since Amorim took charge in November as the replacement for Erik ten Hag.
United, the record 20-time English champion, is 13th in the 20-team Premier League and closer to the relegation zone than the European qualification spots after 22 of 38 games.
Amorim denied that he was shifting blame toward his players. The 39-year-old Portuguese coach said: “I am (most) responsible for the performances and the results.
“I am a young guy and sometimes I make a mistake. This time I needed to talk. Maybe it was a mistake and I get more nervous and go to the (media) conference really nervous, and then you say things you shouldn’t say … I won’t promise I won’t do it again but I will try to improve.”
Amorim was speaking ahead of United’s Europa League game against Scottish rival Rangers at Old Trafford on Thursday. He said his players were “more nervous” and “anxious” playing at home and that was making it harder for the team to pick up results.
“If you have a little inexperience when you fall into this type of context, it’s hard to go up — especially when you are in a massive club,” Amorim said.
“That was my only point in saying it after that loss. The way I do it? Maybe not but it is what it is. I am like that all the time.”
United is in seventh place in the 36-team standings of the revamped Europa League after three wins and three draws from its first six games. Each team has eight matches and the top eight finishers qualify for the last 16, without the need to go through a two-legged playoff.
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Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim gestures during a training session in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Manchester United and Rangers FC. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim follows the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United's head coach Ruben Amorim follows the game during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Brighton and Hove Albion, at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim gestures during a press conference in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Manchester United and Rangers FC. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)
NEW DELHI (AP) — Hundreds of supporters of the Cockroach Janata Party, an online joke that drew millions across India, gathered for the first time in the national capital on Saturday, taking the social media movement off screens and into its biggest real-world test yet.
The protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, marks the movement’s first foray into street politics after weeks of dominating social media feeds and news headlines, attracting millions of online followers and widespread support among young Indians.
The immediate trigger for Saturday’s protest was reported irregularity in a recent exam that has dominated headlines in India, angering a large community of students.
Hundreds of mostly young Indians gathered in the heart of New Delhi’s protest zone near Parliament, some with placards and cockroach masks.
Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the online movement, joined the protest after he landed in the capital from the U.S. on Saturday morning. Police had laid steel barricades at arrivals at New Delhi’s international airport.
Dipke said in a social media post shortly after arriving that police granted permission to the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, to hold the protest, adding: “Cockroaches gather at Jantar Mantar.”
CJP organizers used social media to rally supporters for Saturday’s march, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The demand grew out of an exam irregularity controversy in May that quickly became a broader outlet for frustration over India’s education system and limited job opportunities.
Supporters chanted slogans including, “Cockroaches are coming, Dharmendra Pradhan is going!” One placard read: “Waiting for exams that don’t leak.”
Participants were encouraged to bring India’s national flag and a book, which organizers said symbolized the right to education and equal opportunity for all. Organizers also urged demonstrators to remain peaceful and avoid any confrontations with police.
“Time to turn this tiny joke into a revolution,” the official CJP account on X posted Friday.
Mansi Sehgal, a 26-year-old protester, said the protests began around exam issues, but the deeper problem is that people haven’t had a space to speak up or ask questions. “CJP is doing that. So, this is literally the first thing that people can connect and ask questions,” she said.
“This is a long fight. We are seeing that’s it’s nearly a month that we are demanding (Pradhan’s) resignation,” Dipke said at the venue.
How many ultimately would join the protest remained unclear, making the event an early test of whether the movement can channel its online popularity into a broader grassroots support around growing frustration among young Indians over education, jobs and economic prospects.
The other main challenge would be how the party navigates the kind of pushback earlier protest movements have faced under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Over the past decade, authorities have sought to stamp out protests against his government, including demonstrations against a controversial citizenship legislation and yearlong farmers’ protests. Some protest movements also have faced legal action against organizers and activist arrests, which critics say reflects a broader effort by the government under Modi to suppress dissent.
But despite challenges, protesters expressed optimism for a change.
This is a youth first movement,” said Satya Prakash Yadav, a young student. “Youth is the future and we will ensure that our future is secure.”
The CJP emerged only three weeks ago to become an unlikely outlet for discontent among supporters who proudly call themselves “cockroaches.”
India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant likened critics and some unemployed youth to cockroaches during a May hearing, sparking backlash among frustrated young Indians. Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, used the insult as inspiration for a parody political party. Weeks after launching a website and social media accounts, CJP’s Instagram page has until now amassed more than 22 million followers.
The party has turned the cockroach into a wry badge of endurance and political articulation. Videos and memes lampooning unemployment, corruption and political dysfunction have drawn millions of views online. Parody CJP accounts also have adopted the cockroach as a political symbol and use memes, mock campaign slogans and satirical commentary.
The movement’s tongue-in-cheek messaging blends self-deprecating humor with political criticism. Supporters jokingly describe themselves as unemployed, perpetually online and shut out of meaningful influence. Beneath the humor lies a broader criticism of Modi’s government. CJP supporters argue that under Modi ordinary Indians, particularly young people, have been left with fewer opportunities.
Young people in India make up more than a quarter of the population but face limited job opportunities, rising unemployment and growing disillusionment with traditional politics. Many young voters also are critical of Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, citing concerns over rising religious polarization, widening inequality and mounting economic pressures.
The movement’s skeptics, particularly supporters of Modi’s party, dismiss the phenomenon as little more than a social-media gimmick. They argue the movement’s online popularity may not translate into street mobilization and that its rapid rise is likely fleeting.
The group’s rise echoes a similar trend across South Asia of youth movements born out of social media playing a central role in anti-government protests, including uprisings in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and unrest in Nepal.
Associated Press journalists Shonal Ganguly and Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Abhijeet Dipke, right, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party addresses supporters during a protest demonstration in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Abhijeet Dipke, center, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party addresses supporters during a protest demonstration in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party wear and display masks during a protest demonstration in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Abhijeet Dipke, center, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party gestures as he manages the crowd during a protest demonstration in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party shout slogans against the government during a protest in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A participant wears a cockroach mask as supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party gather for a protest demonstration in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Abhijeet Dipke, center, founder of Cockroach Janta Party shows the autobiography of Bhim Rao Ambedkar as he comes out at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Saurabh Das, center, spokesperson of Cockroach Janta Party waits for the arrival of Abhijeet Dipke, founder of CJP at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Abhijeet Dipke, center, founder of Cockroach Janta Party shows the autobiography of Bhim Rao Ambedkar as he comes out at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Abhijeet Dipke founder of Cockroach Janta Party shows the autobiography of Bhim Rao Ambedkar as he comes out at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Security personnel stand guard before the arrival of Abhijeet Dipke, founder of Cockroach Janta at Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India, Saturday, June 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
