Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has criticised Sir Jim Ratcliffe for the club’s regression under his leadership.
Ferdinand claims that Ratcliffe’s INEOS group has undone any positive impact they might have had after purchasing a 27.7 per cent stake in the club for £1.25 billion.
Ratcliffe was hailed as the club’s rescuer when he invested in it a year ago, following years of fan protests against the Glazers’ ownership.
However, United now find themselves languishing in 15th place in the Premier League, with manager Ruben Amorim struggling to turn things around and being instructed to offload players before making new signings.
Moreover, United have implemented significant cutbacks at Old Trafford, resulting in staff redundancies and even cost-cutting measures affecting club legends.
Ferdinand, who was part of the highly successful era under Sir Alex Ferguson, has condemned INEOS and suggested they request the Glazers to reduce the amount of money they extract from the club.
Speaking on his show ‘Rio Presents‘, the former United defender said: “With INEOS, they couldn’t have come into Manchester United in a better circumstance than they did.
“The fans were absolutely against the Glazers and they have been for a while. So they have huge kudos when they walk through the front door.”
“They have gone quickly towards reversing that with the things they have done. The culling of the jobs, the staff of the football club and, from the outside, I look at it and think: ‘could they have done it in a different way?’
“Could they have gone to the Glazers and said: ‘Look, could we cut some of the money you are taking out as a sort of management fee every year’ which is in the 20s of millions of pounds.
“Every year they take out. Sacrifice a little bit here, please, for the good of this club that you invested a lot of time in and let us have a chance to get back to the top.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk