Man Utd, Ferguson no-brainer warrants acclaim as INEOS refuse to swerve unpopular but obvious call
Owners must make unpopular decisions sometimes and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s move to axe Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson was an obvious one…
The unnecessarily prolonged Man Utd takeover saga ended in February as INEOS chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe purchased a 27.7% stake in the Premier League giants.
This was not the resolution demanded by the majority of Red Devils supporters as the Glazer family retained a majority share, but the unideal situation was softened by Ratcliffe taking over the running of footballing matters at Old Trafford.
Under the stewardship of the Glazer family, Man Utd’s grandeur remained despite the evident lack of due care given by their hands-off owners.
This heavily contributed to Man Utd’s descent into the Premier League’s perennial banter club post-Ferguson retirement.
As it will be if/when Man City decline post-Pep Guardiola, United’s slump was joyfully lapped up by neutrals. But now, the novelty of heavy losses to Big Six rivals and embarrassing defeats to lowly Premier League clubs has worn off and it’s all just got a bit sad.
Man Utd needed a takeover-induced injection of optimism years before Ratcliffe’s arrival, so it was long overdue by the time the British billionaire finally arrived in the first quarter of 2024.
Naturally, Ratcliffe had a huge job on his hands; his priority was to give Man Utd a facelift with a new recruitment model.
An emphasis was put on United having the best in class across all departments and they certainly made a positive statement of intent with the appointments of chief executive Omar Berrada, director of football Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox.
READ: Ranking Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s mistakes at Man Utd from the email to Ten Hag
These recruits – seemingly – helped Man Utd have a positive transfer window, though the club’s poor start to the season suggests their activity was not as astute as it first appeared. But it was at least a summer in which the board stuck to their guns and refused to have their pants pulled down in pursuit of their preferred targets.
United managed to secure their priority signings without wavering on the asking price and this was a far cry from the days of Antony being bought from a lottery-winning Ajax for £86m.
United’s miserable start to this campaign proves the club are some way off being the best in class on the pitch and ruthless decisions need to be made by those in the posh seats if they are to return to being an elite-level operation on and off the field.
With United looking likely to miss out on the Champions League *again*, their points deduction fears will only increase as they wobble along the Profit and Sustainability tightrope.
Man Utd benefit from several huge sponsorship deals, but cost-cutting measures were still inevitable after Ratcliffe took control of the books and didn’t like what he saw.
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This initially came in the form of mass redundancies at Old Trafford which, unsurprisingly, sparked outrage as staff morale reportedly hit a ‘new low’ in the summer.
But this was a necessary evil and the same can be said for Ratcliffe’s bold but admirable call to take away Ferguson’s lucrative global club ambassador role.
Messing with Man Utd’s Godfather will always be a fast-track way of making an owner unpopular, so it is brave of Ratcliffe and co. to make this decision, particularly without a significant ‘win’ under their belts.
But when auditing the incomings and outgoings at Man Utd, the multi-million pound deal gift-wrapped to Ferguson as a retirement present would inevitably have a glaring red circle around it.
It could have been diplomatically ignored, and lower-profile cuts could have been made to keep the fans sweet, but if INEOS are to achieve their mission statement of making Man Utd the best once more, difficult calls – like the axing of Sir Alex – are required. This huge development proves they have the cojones to deliver on their big promises.
Ratcliffe’s team have reportedly gone a step further, telling Ferguson to ‘stay away from the United dressing room’. ‘Tradition’ or not, this should surely be a given; whichever poor sucker is in charge of Manchester United does not need the looming presence of a legend over his shoulder.
Ferguson is not naive so he surely must have seen this coming. Deep down he’ll know that his new unpaid ‘non-executive director’ role is far more in keeping with his status at the club than a £2m-plus deal for some glad-handing.
