Revoking the legendary manager's role is another demonstration of the minority owner's lack of regard for the people who built the club
When Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally completed his minority purchase of Manchester United, supporters took comfort in the knowledge that, after nearly two decades of neglect from the Glazer family, the club was back in the hands of someone who cared deeply for it.
Ratcliffe grew up in a council estate in north Manchester, went to Old Trafford as a child – although he struggled to recall which games he attended when asked – and was in the Camp Nou to watch the Red Devils win the 1999 Champions League final and complete the treble. But less than a year since becoming minority shareholder, he has taken an axe to the club’s legacy.
Not content with dismissing 250 employees, Ratcliffe has dispensed with the man who built the modern Manchester United, none other than Sir Alex Ferguson.
(C)GettyImagesConstant presence
After sitting next to Ferguson numerous times at Old Trafford, away grounds, Wembley Stadium and during the Munich disaster memorial service, Ratcliffe has told the club’s greatest ever manager that his role as an ambassador, which he has held since retiring from the dugout in 2013, will come to an end at the end of the season.
Ferguson will no longer receive a salary and he will be barred from entering the dressing room. Since stepping down after winning 13 league titles, five FA Cups and two Champions Leagues, as well as making United the most popular club in the world, Ferguson has been a constant presence at games.
His legacy continues to loom large, not least because the team have not won a Premier League title or competed properly for the Champions League since his departure. He has a statue outside Old Trafford and the biggest stand in the stadium is still named after him. That is why Ratcliffe’s decision to cut Ferguson loose was so shocking.
AdvertisementGetty 'Totally scandalous'
Eric Cantona, arguably Ferguson's greatest signing who fired United to their first title in 26 years, was understandably irate when he learned of the news.
"Sir Alex Ferguson should be able to do anything he wants at the club until the day he dies," Cantona wrote on Instagram. "Such a lack of respect. It’s totally scandalous. Sir Alex Ferguson will be my boss forever! And I throw them all in a big bag of s***!"
Rio Ferdinand, who played under Ferguson for 11 seasons, was also greatly surprised. He wrote on X: "If Sir Alex can be taken out, then NO ONE IS SAFE at Man Utd – anyone can get it now. Ineos sending a message to ANYONE at the club?!?"
Perhaps they shouldn’t have been so surprised. Ratcliffe had already sacked 250 long-serving employees, many of whom do not have a fraction of Ferguson’s wealth to fall back on. Those redundancies and the decision to end Ferguson’s relationship with the club merely adheres to the same playbook Ratcliffe has followed throughout his business career, the one which led him to become the second richest person in Britain, worth an estimated £21 billion ($25bn), according to .
Getty Playing hardball
In 2013, Ratcliffe had threatened to shut down an INEOS petrochemicals plant in Grangemouth, Scotland, unless workers agreed to his “survival plan”, which included job cuts, a freeze on wages, harsher redundancy terms and an end to workers’ final salary pensions.
No less than 800 jobs were on the line and Scotland’s then-first minister, the late Alex Salmond, called it a “major industrial catastrophe”. During that dispute Ratcliffe took on Unite, one of the largest trade unions in the country, and temporarily shut down the plant after members had voted against his plans.
Last November, a decade after the dispute, Petroineos (a joint venture between Ratcliffe’s firm and Petrochina) announced that the oil refinery at Grangemouth was to close, with 400 jobs set to be lost. The announcement was greeted with anguish, which then turned to anger a month later when Ratcliffe’s minority investment in United was confirmed.
Ratcliffe's victory over Unite and the Grangemouth workers emboldened the billionaire and he has continued to resort to play hardball whenever he has not got his way. He used similar tactics when negotiating with the Glazers to buy his minority stake in United last year, giving the American family a deadline of Christmas day to accept his offer and threatening to pull out of the deal altogether if they did not.
AFPTrue colours
And after a charm offensive which included meeting fan groups and the media, Ratcliffe is revealing his true colours. Ending Ferguson’s association with the club, as well as the redundancies, is part of a wider cost-cutting strategy. Some of the cost-cutting measures have invited little sympathy on those affected, such as removing company credit cards for executives or not paying for employees to travel to Wembley for the FA Cup final.
Other measures look heartless, such as ending lunchboxes for agency workers and making them eat next to a toilet, ending home-working for staff or increasing the cost of parking for disabled supporters.
With United needing to balance the books to meet the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations, ending Ferguson’s ambassadorial role makes some sense. The former manager earned £2.1m ($2.7m) for his role, in addition to him having his own table in the restaurant area of the directors box for 12 guests.
He did very little media or promotional work in exchange for his salary and will still be welcome to attend matches while retaining his position as a non-executive board member. United insist that Ferguson took the decision ‘amicably’.
