Man Utd staff ‘furious’ at Ratcliffe after ‘rudderless’ Red Devils let Ashworth leave

Some Man Utd staff have been ‘furious’ with the way Sir Jim Ratcliffe has handled the running of the club since becoming co-owner, according to a former Premier League CEO.

It was revealed last month that the Red Devils had made the decision to end ‘a multi-million pound annual commitment’ to Sir Alex Ferguson in their latest cost-cutting measure.

The Scot won 38 trophies at Man Utd during a managerial reign spanning nearly 27 years, including 13 Premier League titles and two European Cups.

INEOS and Ratcliffe are working to put the club on a more sustainable financial footing and have instigated a number of cost-saving measures, including a redundancy programme which cut 250 jobs from headcount across all departments by the end of August.

After chasing Dan Ashworth over the summer in an expensive operation, Man Utd announced on Sunday that the former Newcastle sporting director has now left the club.

Ratcliffe is not just struggling to convince people of his ability in off-field matters but also decisions, such as keeping Erik ten Hag on in the summer, which have seen Man Utd drop to 13th in the Premier League on the pitch.

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And now Football Insider claim some staff are ‘furious’ at the Man Utd co-owner’s handling of club affairs with former Everton CEO Keith Wyness insisting that he has “lost a lot of morale within the staff”.

Wyness told Football Insider‘s Insider Track podcast: “Ratcliffe has started off on a very shaky peg.

“There were protests last weekend outside the ground about the pricing at Old Trafford. He’s lost a lot of morale within the staff, I know that for a fact.

“A lot of United staff I’ve spoken to think the whole operation is just rudderless at the moment. They feel there are too many leaders at the top.

“It’s not a happy ship. But it does seem Amorim has made a good start, and could be the character to bind things together.”

Hiring Ruben Amorim and sacking Ten Hag cost Man Utd a lot of money and there are doubts that the Red Devils will have much money to spend in the winter transfer window.

Man Utd legend Teddy Sheringham said back in November when Amorim had been announced as the new head coach: “In terms of new signings, potentially the money’s been spent.

“Amorim is inheriting what is essentially Ten Hag’s squad, there’s going to be guys in there that he’s not going to want, so it will take time to build the squad that he wants. I would love to see United be ambitious and try to make a couple of exciting signings in January if they have the budget to do it.”