Ratcliffe blames Glazers for Manchester United mess after they 'made a complete cock-up of it'
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has laid the blame for the ongoing chaos at Manchester United squarely on the Glazer family, accusing them of making a 'complete cock-up' of running the club. Ratcliffe, who acquired a 27 per cent stake to take control of football operations a year ago, did not hold back in his criticism of the previous regime. He said the Glazers 'just managed the club and left the football side alone and they’ve made a lot of very poor decisions over 12 years, stupid things'.
Ratcliffe added that the first management group under Ed Woodward 'thought they understood and wanted to get involved in buying footballers, but they didn’t have the knowledge to buy footballers so they went in the marketplace, spraying money around and it was just random'. He stated he would not have tolerated Woodward or his successor Richard Arnold.
According to one former Premier League executive, Ratcliffe is currently pinning the chaos on the Glazers. The executive said: 'I don’t think Jim listens to many people. In my experience, it takes about five years for owners to learn their lessons and take some responsibility. That’s when humility starts to land. Up until Year 3 or 4, they are still putting the blame on what they inherited.'
Manchester United are weighing up whether to sack the third permanent manager of Ratcliffe’s reign, with the club in the relegation zone during the international break. Director of football Jason Wilcox is leading the review and will consult with CEO Omar Berrada before giving a recommendation to Ratcliffe.
Fan discontent remains visible, with a banner reading 'We don’t want a new stadium, we want new owners' unfurled before kick-off and again before the end of the first half on Sunday, before being confiscated by stewards. Ratcliffe previously vowed he would walk away if the abuse directed at him reached the level suffered by the Glazer family, saying: 'Eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say: Look, enough’s enough, guys, let somebody else do this.'