Former Sky Sports presenter Richards Keys insists Man Utd must spend £1billion on their squad to have any chance of challenging for the Premier League title.
The Red Devils are having a season to forget after parting company with Erik ten Hag at the end of October and hiring Ruben Amorim as his successor.
Amorim has attempted to implement a new philosophy, playing style and formation at Old Trafford but the Man Utd players are yet to thrive in their new roles.
The Red Devils have won just four of their 14 Premier League matches since Amorim’s arrival with one report in Spain claiming that the Man Utd hierarchy are ‘already thinking about sacking’ the Portuguese coach.
It’s almost a year since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS pushed through a deal to buy 27.7 per cent of Man Utd from the Glazer family and things seem to have got worse on and off the pitch.
A report last week claimed further redundancies are planned at Old Trafford, with between 100 and 200 staff now at risk of losing their jobs after co-owner Ratcliffe signed off on 250 people being shown the door last year.
And beIN Sports presenter Keys insists that Man Utd co-owner Ratcliffe has now “ripped the heart and soul out of the club off the pitch” and reckons the Glazers “must still be pissing themselves” at selling part of the club to INEOS.
Keys wrote in his blog: “How time flies. It’s a year Thursday (Feb20) that Jim Ratcliffe turned up to fanfares at Old Trafford, having added £1.25b to the Glazer family fortune. Not a penny of that money went to Manchester United by the way.
“The Glazers must still be pissing themselves. They got a nice few quid and a quiet life – Ratcliffe got control of footballing matters at Old Trafford and one nightmare after another – all of his own creation.
“When he turned up to watch his first game Ratcliffe was afforded a hero’s welcome. I understand why. Desperate United fans wanted to believe. Initially they did believe, but it’s all gone horribly wrong hasn’t it?
“It wasn’t good at United post-Fergie, but it’s never been as bad as it is now. Not only has Ratcliffe ripped the heart and soul out of the club off the pitch – sacking long time employees and even Fergie – but on it he’s reduced United to little more than bits and pieces. I’m afraid to say – a laughing stock.
“I hate to keep writing about it. I genuinely want to see United back at the top table of English football, but they’re light years from re-joining the best. Light years and a £1b spend on the team.
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“They’ve got a manager who clearly doesn’t want to be there – a cycling expert in charge of football matters (who should never have been allowed back into pro sport after his time in charge of Team Sky) and an owner flailing about without a clue what to do next – except sack more good people.
“It’s sad. It really is. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. How many times have I pointed out what happened at both Lausanne and Nice after Ratcliffe took controlling interests in those clubs?
“Every time I do my mates accuse me of hating United. Wrong. I hate what’s happening at United.
“And I don’t see it getting better anytime soon. I tweeted an article I saw in the business section of The Guardian last Thursday. The Mail on Sunday’s Riath Al-Samarrai referenced it in his column this weekend. I’m impressed. His reading is clearly as broad as mine.
“The article points out much financial trouble Ineos’s chemical empire is in. According to The Guardian, debts are forecast to reach almost £10b this year. It went on to claim at least two leading credit rating agencies estimate the burden to be five to six times the size of the companies annual earnings. If true – and I’ve no way of finding out, but I trust my favourite newspaper – this will inevitably impact United. I believe it already has.”
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