Former Manchester United star Eric Cantona has launched a blistering attack on Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his ownership of the club.
The United icon has recently become a co-owner of FC United of Manchester.
Never short of an opinion, while speaking on the Man Utd The Religion YouTube channel, he tore into the actions taken by Ineos and United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe so far.
The Frenchman criticised Ineos’ decision to make 450 members of staff redundant and claimed, “the soul of the team and the club is not in the players. All the people around are like a big family.”
Referencing his own playing days at Old Trafford he stated, “I remember a dressing-room with players and Sir Alex Ferguson, all these people you don‘t know who helped us to feel at home and be in a family. I think it’s very important to respect these people like you respect your manager and team-mates.”
Cantona was also left perplexed by the axing of Sir Alex Ferguson as an ambassador and that it seemed to him that Ratcliffe was trying to do the complete opposite to the past.
His criticism ran deeper as he warned fans that “this team of directors, they try to destroy everything. They don’t respect anybody. They even want to change the stadium. The stadium is iconic.”
The Premier League legend opined that Arsenal lost their identity when they moved from their Highbury Stadium and that the same will happen to United when they leave Old Trafford.
He explained, “it’s like when you go in a house and feel a special energy. Can you imagine Liverpool playing in another stadium than Anfield? It’s impossible. I don’t think United can play in another stadium than Old Trafford.”
United’s decision to move stadium was purely down to economics according to Cantona and he claimed that he “hated this type of decision.”
While admitting he was still in love with the club, he claimed he doesn’t think he would fall in love with the team now if he was new to football.
“I support United because I really love United. But now if I was a fan and I had to choose a club, I don’t think I would choose United because I don’t feel close to these kind of decisions. Do you feel close to this project? I don’t think so.”
The Frenchman also revealed that he offered himself to help the new ownership team but that no agreement could be found between the two parties.
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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.
