Pundits Alan Shearer and Michael Owen have ripped into the job new owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has done over the last year at Manchester United.
The new owners have been at the centre of some controversial decisions lately such as hiking up ticket prices and sanctioning mass redundancies at the club.
Despite a fine win 2-1 away to Manchester City yesterday, Ratcliffe’s team still find themselves 13th in the table, albeit just three points from sixth place.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, Shearer claimed, “that’s [chaotic] the right word. It looks as if it’s gone from a really bad situation to everyone thinking ‘Ratcliffe is in there now’ [everything will be fine].”
“But ever since he walked in the door, whether it be putting ticket prices up, giving Erik ten Hag a new deal or giving him millions to spend on players and then sacking him and giving him compensation”, it’s all been negative.
The former Newcastle striker also laid into the decision to sack sporting director Dan Ashworth after only five months in the job and lambasted the side’s position in the league, claiming that “the most important thing is results on the pitch and that isn’t getting any better anytime soon.”
He also stated that Amorim must have been shocked by the quality of the squad that Ratcliffe has built for him and that patience will need to be required.
His fellow former England teammate, Michael Owen, also criticised Ineos’ role at the club claiming they have “ripped out” the fabric of the backroom staff.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News he claimed, “when I was at Manchester United, all the kit men, the canteen ladies, the security, the receptionist, the physios, the doctors, it’s the backroom team that you know so much” and that just doesn’t exist anymore.
“It’s quite heartbreaking for people that you know who have lost their jobs.” Owen did claim that casual fans don’t care about this however and all they are interested in is if the club is winning a trophy.
Owen commented that he understood that costs need to come down but it was sad to see so many people lose their jobs when you consider the human aspect of it.
He said that he was “tinged with a little bit of sadness” when he heard about the job losses but he claimed that he understood the club needs a shakeup to get back to competing at the top table of European and domestic football.
Ratcliffe has defended his decisions in a recent interview, highlighting that tough decisions need to be made to bring the club back from the mediocrity it currently resides in.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
