“A fish begins to rot from the head,” says the English saying; in which case, if he is telling the truth, Manchester United are doing even worse than suggested by five defeats in six league matches and fourteenth place in the Premier League standings, just seven points behind the first relegation; with Liverpool at Anfield to follow this weekend.
This is because the head here is that of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who, although he only controls 28.9% of Man United’s shares
has become the supreme authority for everything relating to football in the club since December 2023. And it is strictly impossible to find an example – just one – of one of his decisions having had a positive impact on “his” club.
Other billionaires have this problem. It seems that their wealth is in their eyes proof that they are incapable of making mistakes. If one of their decisions turns out to be a disaster, the responsibility can only fall on the underlings who failed to carry out the orders from above.
Expenses that make little sense
This is how sporting director Dan Ashworth, poached from Newcastle in February last year – for compensation of 3.6 million euros -, and who only took up his duties on July 1, did not last that five months before irreconcilable differences of opinion with Ratcliffe and his executive director Omar Barrada made him take the exit door.This is how Erik ten Hag, who no one thought would survive the change of regime, was offered a contract extension which he himself had mourned. It was enough for the Red Devils to win over Manchester City in the FA Cup final, a meritorious victory, certainly, but which poorly concealed United’s regression in the competitions that Ratcliffe had said he aspired to win in the “two, three years
picture
“Open to everything”: But where can Thierry Henry bounce back?
Video credit: Eurosport The rest, we know it. Ten Hag was given a very substantial budget for the summer transfer window, which he used to recruit players none of whom have yet really established themselves at Old Trafford – DeLigt, Yoro, Zirkzee, Ugarte, Mazraoui -, an outlay net
of 111 million euros, four and a half times more than what Arsenal had spent then, while Liverpool finished this transfer window with a positive balance. On October 28, ten Hag was dismissed, receiving compensation of 12 million euros, while the club was forced to add 2 million to Ruben Amorim’s 11 million departure clause in order to hire him. during the season.
But these were only errors of judgment; which were expensive, certainly, but which a generous spirit could attribute to the relative inexperience of the new team in charge, which had never had to face a problem as significant as Manchester United, and to which neither the management of Lausanne Sport, nor that of OGC Nice had prepared Ratcliffe and his team.
Ratcliffe alienated fans in less than a year
What is more serious is that these errors were accompanied by what we must call mistakes, which is not the same thing. Ratcliffe, who arrived at the club accompanied by the best wishes of supporters who could no longer stand the Galzer family, found a way to alienate them in less than a year, by multiplying decisions whose pettiness had something of a ‘irrational.It didn’t take long to find out what Ratcliffe meant by “marginal gains ” in the case of Manchester United. A tradition in place for ages was that club employees – and players’ families – were offered travel to Wembley as well as their hotel costs in London when their team had qualified for an FA Cup or League Cup final Ratcliffe put an end to that in 2024. The club’s women, who had just won the FA Cup for the first time in their history, learned about the social networks that their party
celebrations would not take place, as the planned dinner date would have interfered with the men’s team’s preparations for their own final. Ferguson fired, Christmay party
canceledA little over a month later, July 3, on behalf of the “rationalisation
picture
Sir Alex Ferguson looks on before the UEFA Europa League 2024/25 League Phase MD1 match between Manchester United
Credit: Getty Images Each year, Manchester United contributed 50,000 euros to the solidarity fund set up to help its former players in need; but these payments of 12,500 euros per quarter stopped this fall without any explanation being given. Finally – although this is certainly not the end of the matter – the traditional bonus of 100 pounds that the club’s employees were offered at Christmas was replaced by a voucher worth 40 pounds to Marks & Spencer. The equally traditionalChristmas Party
it was simply canceled.
Add in everything these penny-pinching savings have saved United, and you might have enough to pay the salary of Marcus Rashford, who no longer hides his desire to leave the club whose legacy he was supposed to symbolize. future; and compare that with the price paid in terms of the relationship between this club and its fans, who, to some extent, are able to swallow failures on the pitch, but cannot stand injustice.
Yes, Manchester United need money. The club suffered a loss of 136 million euros in 2023-24, while Premier League regulations limit these losses to 126 million over three years. In short, this means that United are unable to acquire new players in the winter transfer window which has just opened without risking a points deduction, as Everton and Nottingham Forest experienced. last season. The only solution offered to Ruben Amorim is to sell to buy, as Scott McTominay was sold to Napoli to acquire Manuel Ugarte in the 25th hour of the summer market. No nibble a few pennies on the budget allocated to the club’s good works.
United fight to avoid relegation
But who to sell, and to whom, when the salaries of players like Marcus Rashford (18.8 million euros per year) are so high that almost no other European club could afford to honor them?Surprise yourself then that Ruben Amorim can say, in all seriousness, that his team, today, is not fighting for a place in Europe, but to avoid relegation. “It’s completely clear“, he said after the 0-2 defeat against Newcastle. “This is one of the most difficult moments in Man United’s history, and we must face it with honesty
picture
‘The end of an era’: Why Griezmann’s retirement is the worst news of the year
Video credit: Eurosport
However, the Portuguese did not become incompetent in the space of two months. The supporters know it, who have not turned against him. Amorim is first of all the victim of a toxic environment and culture, and of this absurd predicate that Manchester United would be “too big” for him as he had been too big for Erik ten Hag (and Moyes, and Solksjaer, and even Mourinho and van Gaal), an untruth that continues to be repeated by fans mourning their past greatness, who cannot accept that the field of ruins that they contemplate every weekend is good their club and that what is “too big” is rather the idea they have of it today. Finding out hurts, really hurts.
Ah, if only it were as easy to change owners as coaches…
INEOS’s stake initially amounted to 27.7%. Ratcliffe injected an additional 79 million pounds this autumn to now control 28.9% of the capital via his company INEOS.
- -
