The storm at Manchester United was quiet for precisely four days when they won against Bodo and Everton after which it’s been all chaos.
The uncertainty on the pitch was added to by the executive team as Dan Ashworth departed Man Utd after just five months in the role, bringing renewed scrutiny on Ineos.
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the departure, and many have been mentioned, like Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s irritation with Ashworth, the optics of the move are abysmal.
After all, this is the man the same Sir Jim Ratcliffe was hailing as one of the best in the world just this February so such a sensational U-turn is hard to justify.
BBC’s Mark Chapman, also a Man Utd fan, has made an extraordinary claim about the club in the wake of this development.
Mark Chapman’s extraordinary Man Utd claim
The hope was the Ineos will bring a sense of identity and direction to a flailing club that had gotten too comfortable with mediocrity.
That ambition was clear in the new ownership group’s words and initial actions too but there had been far too many missteps recently, on and off the pitch, to ignore any longer.
It has driven some fans to start questioning the Sir Jim Ratcliffe regime as the novelty of them not being the Glazers is wearing off.
Count Mark Chapman among those exasperated fans and he has let loose on the state of affairs at Old Trafford by making a remarkable claim.
Speaking on The Sports Agents podcast, Chapman said that United has effectively become a club where growth stops, with none of the people attached to the club, on or off the pitch, better off after coming here than they were before.
He said: “Every single person that has gone into Manchester United since [Sir Alex] Ferguson left – player, coach, head coach, staff – none of them, even execs actually, none of them have left improved, in my opinion.
“It’s about systems and structure, and culture and people, and putting the right people in place in the right departments to run and build a sporting organisation.
“It isn’t about sitting there on Football Manager and looking at data and signing people. You bring in specialists for that.”
Man Utd claim is strong but true
Putting everyone under a single umbrella and declaring it a failure might seem an exaggeration but there genuinely haven’t been many who have left United with their reputation enhanced.
It is why the club has been so poor at selling because the player value tanks in the malaise that affects Old Trafford.
No manager has gone on to bigger and better things after leaving (read: sacking) Manchester United and the executives who leave do so with their reputations in tatters.
After a certain point, it needs addressing that the club doesn’t repeatedly buy bad players, hire bad managers, and appoint incompetent staff.
There is a cultural shift needed and Ineos were marked as the people who would bring it but so far, after early optimism, all they’ve brought is a sense of fear in the Man Utd staff and a lot of uncertainty in all departments.
It could be short-term pain for long-term gain but after “short-term pain” of nearly 12 years with countless rebuilds, United fans are validated in thinking that it’s another false dawn until proven otherwise.
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