‘Not good enough’, ‘overpaid’: Ratcliffe berates Man Utd flops
LONDON – Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe brandished a number of his beleaguered club stars “not good enough” – and “probably overpaid”.
Ratcliffe’s withering assessment came after a miserable start to his Old Trafford reign following his takeover of football operations in February last year.
Hojlund, Andre Onana and Casemiro, and Jadon Sancho and Antony he named as the main sources of his frustration.
Sancho and Antony, meanwhile, are on loan at Chelsea and Real Betis, respectively, after failing to meet United’s expectations.
On United continuing to pay instalments of transfer fees for a number of players, Ratcliffe, whose ownership will be shared with the US-based Glazer family, said in an interview with the BBC broadcast on Monday: “If you look at the players that we are buying that we didn’t buy this summer, we’re buying Antony, we’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying Onana, we’re buying Hojlund, we’re buying Sancho.
All of those things are stuff from the past, whether we like it or not, we’ve inherited those things and have to sort that out.”
“Also, for Sancho, currently at Chelsea where we pay half his wages, we are paying pound sterling17 million to acquire him for the summer.
Asked if he was implying that those players were not good enough for United, Ratcliffe replied: “Some are not good enough, some are probably overpaid, but to shape up the squad which we’re completely responsible for, accountable for, will take time.”
And after United finished eighth in the Premier League and won the FA Cup last season, Ratcliffe and his United advisers decided to back boss Erik ten Hag.
He was eventually terminated in October and succeeded by Ruben Amorim following another miserable stretch for United.
INEOS’s chairman Ratcliffe has conceded that retaining Ten Hag was a mistake.
He reached the same conclusion about his appointment of Dan Ashworth as sporting director, a position he relinquished after five months in December.
‘Returning to greatness’ –
“I think this Erik ten Tag and Dan Ashworth decision was an error,” the 72-year-old said.
“I think that there were some mitigating factors, but they were errors. I come to terms with that and I apologise for that.”
United remain 14th in the Premier League after winning only four of their first 11 league matches since Amorim took charge, but Ratcliffe vowed to stick by the former Sporting Lisbon manager.
“If I really look at the squad which is available to Ruben, to be honest, I think he is doing a really good job,” he said.
“I believe Ruben is an excellent young manager. I really do. “He’s a very good manager and I suspect he will be there a long time.”
In support of Amorim’s decision to let England forward Marcus Rashford leave on loan for Aston Villa, Ratcliffe added: “He wants a dressing room that is full of people that are totally committed to winning football matches.
“He won’t put up with people who don’t have 100 percent of that attitude. If you want them in the same box.”
Ratcliffe spouted his incendiary claims about United’s moribund team only 24 hours after thousands of fans joined a protest against the club’s ownership ahead of Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Booed slogans were called towards the Glazers and Ratcliffe, with whom they have made decisions off the field that have proved contentious — a mid-season price increase on tickets, for example, and the likely redundancy of 200 employees after 250 roles were axed last year.
Ratcliffe insisted the “unpleasant” cost-cutting measures were “necessary” as the club will “run out of money at Christmas if we don’t do those things”.
Underlining that his “only interest here is returning Manchester United back to greatness again”, Ratcliffe said that Amorim would have cash to spend in the close-season to strengthen his squad.
The last time United eased to the Premier League title was in 2013, Ferguson’s final season as manager.
A huge task lies ahead in bridging the gap to champions-elect Liverpool, but Ratcliffe added his vision of winning the league by 2028, the club’s 150th anniversary, was “not impossible”.