Paul Scholes has not held back on his one-year assessment of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s ownership at Manchester United.
It has been 12 months since Ratcliffe’s £1.2bn takeover at Manchester United was completed, and the British billionaire’s reputation among the fanbase has taken a beating.
There was an overwhelming sense of joy and optimism following the takeover with United finally stripping the Glazers of sporting control at Old Trafford. But that positivity was short-lived.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting at United has been relentless with 250 jobs cut at Old Trafford over the summer. Even Sir Alex Ferguson’s contract was ripped up.
Perhaps the biggest point of contention is Ratcliffe raising ticket prices to £66 – a poorly-timed decision that piled more misery onto an already suffering fanbase. Club legend Paul Scholes has now had his say.
Paul Scholes launches scathing rant at Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Ratcliffe has gone from being viewed as a saving grace at United to now becoming a pantomime villain who appears to be completely out of touch with the fanbase.
Not only have ticket prices been raised, but staff saw their Christmas bonuses stripped and there have even been cuts to the disabled supporters association. United have been serial overspenders in the past decade, but Ratcliffe’s ruthless penny-pinching is not the answer.
Speaking on The Overlap, Scholes slammed Ratcliffe’s ownership and argued that things have only gotten worse since his takeover.
Scholes started by saying: “They have been in charge for nearly a year now and everything is still negative. I can’t think of something positive that they’ve done for the football club.
“Things are getting worse on the football pitch so couldn’t they have just said that they’d do cheaper tickets – couldn’t they just give us something positive. How can you ask Manchester United fans to pay more money with what’s on the football pitch.
“£66 for a ticket is ridiculous. If you think of Manchester, there are so many deprived areas and Sir Jim Ratcliffe himself is from Failsworth – which is a deprived area. If you take one kid with you, that’s £120, if you take a family, you’re looking at £300-400 – it’s not right.”
What have Ineos improved at Man United?
That is the burning question being asked by United supporters, and Scholes echoed those concerns further into the Overlap episode.
“I don’t think they care about poking the bear do they,” Scholes added. “He [Ratcliffe] confesses he is a Man United fan from Failsworth, but what is he doing for them?
“If he is a United fan and went to United all the time, there is nothing positive happening with the football club. The team look bang average, as the position in the league will say. And they’re not doing anything for fans. They’re making it even worse.”
Perhaps the only positive from the Ineos ownership so far is Ratcliffe wanting to build a 100,000 stadium at United. Even then, the funding for the project has not been sourced.
Results on the pitch have not improved – although in Ruben Amorim it seems United have hired a brilliant head coach for the long-term project.
But Ineos want to win the Premier League by 2028 and so far they have appeared far too incompetent to help Amorim achieve that goal.
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