Manchester United co-owners INEOS are reportedly sick of hearing about the club’s successful past and even blame Sir Alex Ferguson for its decline.
The jaw-dropping claims are made by The Mirror in a report explaining that up to 200 more jobs are set to be lost at the club, only seven months after 250 members of staff were laid off.
According to a United insider, “INEOS want absolutely nothing to do with the past” which, currently, is all the club has by way of a feelgood factor.
“They don’t want to hear how things were done when United were winning 13 Premier League titles and they won’t accept any suggestion that lessons can be learned from when the club’s greatest-ever manager was in charge.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s group doubtless believe that the game and the business which surrounds it has changed since Ferguson’s domestic and European dominance, but acting like it never happened is bordering on the surreal.
It is even claimed that some figures feel that the legendary manager is actively to blame for the current situation after failing to embrace developments in coaching and scouting.
The insider continued: “It’s all very well drawing a line under the last 12 years and saying ‘let’s move on.’ But it’s become an obsession not to mention the period when United were one of the best teams in Europe.”
Fans will be reeling from the claim that drawing a line under the club’s greatest years seems more important than returning to them, and certainly the latest round of job cuts paint a worrying picture.
The Mirror states that United’s 80-strong scouting department is likely to be next to feel the pinch, with “swingeing cuts” expected in that area.
This comes with United languishing in 15th place in the league, and with Ruben Amorim in desperate need of very specific types of player.
The report claims that United will “rely more heavily on an analytical approach to identifying potential signings rather than travelling to see players perform in the flesh.”
With a crushing inevitability, this comes hand in hand with a belief that this will “open the door for favoured agents to place their clients inside Old Trafford more easily.”
For many at United, this weekend will have been bleak for reasons far from the pitch, with INEOS summoning employees for a meeting tomorrow at Old Trafford where the latest round of job cuts are set to be announced.
The report notes that worried employees note that the three-month notice period in their contracts would neatly take the club until the end of the season and buy the bigwigs some time before the next campaign.
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
