Manchester Uniteds new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has had a poor start at Old Trafford, according to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher. Ratcliffes arrival was welcomed after he bought a minority stake in United in February, taking over football operations from the Glazer family, who are largely unpopular among supporters, but fan opinion is already beginning to sour over big decisions made by the billionaires new regime.
Sporting director Dan Ashworth was let go over the weekend just five months into the job – the same length of time he spent on gardening leave after Man Utd paid Newcastle £2-£3m for him following a drawn out pursuit.
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These costly decisions have occurred amid wide-ranging staff redundancies and increasing ticket prices, with the team currently sat 13th in the Premier League table after 15 games. The optics are awful, Carragher told Sky Sports News.
Who knows, in the future we might look back and think [getting rid of Ashworth] was the right decision, but when you look at it from the outside, it doesnt look good. Since INEOS came in, Im not sure it could have gone much worse.
They won the FA Cup, but they kept the manager, who they didnt really want and spent £200m in the transfer market. Right now they find themselves in the lowest position theyve been at this stage of the season.
Theyve had to sack a manager early in the season, and the sporting director [Ashworth] who they chased from another Premier League club, and obviously paid big money for him in sporting director terms now hes gone a few months later.
If youre a Manchester United fan, that initial joy of someone else being in charge and it not being the Glazers, it was almost anyone but the Glazers, I dont think its been a great start at all. Its been really poor from Jim Ratcliffe and the INEOS team, and it needs to change really quickly.
Neville hits out at weak Man Utd statement Gary Neville hit out at Man Utds weak statement announcing Ashworths departure from Old Trafford, claiming it will only fuel speculation about the reason for his sudden exit only five months after joining the club.
Neville said the speed of Ashworths exit was not a good look for the club, and would need a lot of explaining to reassure fans about the direction of travel under new co-owners INEOS. The Sky Sports pundit told NBC: Something like that cant be mutual.
When INEOS came in, everyone knew there were going to be huge changes. There have been – mass redundancies within the club, a complete overhaul of the executive of the club in terms of the CEO, CFO, sporting director, technical director and now manager recently.
You wouldve expected large changes, but not for this position. Ashworth was headhunted for many months, he was chased for about 10 months. He was on gardening leave for four or five months, they paid millions of pounds to get him.
I worked with Dan at the FA for two years, and hes been very successful everywhere he has been. Im most shocked this has happened, its not a great look at all. Its something thats going to need a lot of explaining.
The statement the club have put out is really poor. Man Utd havent had a voice for 10 years. Theyve lost their authority and their boldness. Theyve been getting it back a little bit in the last 12 months, but its really clear theres a fracture here.
You cant bring someone in like Dan Ashworth, lose him after five months and think something hasnt gone wrong. Fans are going to be asking whats gone wrong. Theyre going to speculate, theres going to be huge voids.
Youre better off punching us in the face with the truth sometimes when its so obvious something has gone wrong, between the personalities of Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada, Dave Brailsford, whoever it is who hasnt got on with each other.
Just tell us, because its obvious something has happened. That statement is weak.
