Paul Scholes has outlined his displeasure at the first year of Ineos’ ownership of Manchester United and claimed he “can’t think of something positive they’ve done for the football club”.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos’ chairman, struck a deal with the Glazers last December which saw him purchase 27.7 per cent of United with the promise of revitalising the club on and off the field.
Since then, however, there have been a series of unpopular decisions, including an efficiency drive that saw a quarter of the club’s workforce – many in low-paid employment – dismissed while children’s ticket prices have rocketed.
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Things have not been any better on the playing side either with the decision to hand former boss Erik ten Hag a new deal in the summer backfiring. The Dutchman was subsequently sacked in October with his replacement Ruben Amorim making a slow start at Old Trafford. United are currently 13th in the Premier League.
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‘Things getting worse on the pitch’
“[Ineos Group] have been in charge [of Manchester United] for nearly a year now and everything is still negative. I can’t think of something positive that they’ve done for the football club,” former United and England midfielder Scholes told The Overlap Fan Debate.
“Things are getting worse on the football pitch so couldn’t they have just said that they’d do cheaper tickets – couldn’t they just give us something positive? How can you ask Manchester United fans to pay more money with what’s on the football pitch?
“£66 for a ticket is ridiculous. If you think of Manchester, there are so many deprived areas and Sir Jim Ratcliffe himself is from Failsworth, which is a deprived area. If you take one kid with you, that’s £120, if you take a family, you’re looking at £300-400 – it’s not right.
“Where do these owners get the front to put ticket prices up? For the value, we’re probably having our worst ever Premier League season and they’ve got the cheek to put the prices up.”
Nothing positive – Scholes
Scholes added: “There is nothing positive happening with that football club. The team look bang average. They’re not doing anything for fans.
“If we’ve got Sir Jim Ratcliffe, compared to all these American owners, who’s been a United fan since growing up in an area in Manchester, he’s still hiking prices up. It just shows that they don’t care.”
Ratcliffe has spoken of his willingness to make difficult decisions and even claimed it could boost his popularity with some supporters.
He told Bloomberg over the summer: “At Manchester United, I’m having to do some things which are unpopular.
“I mean, I think at the end-of-the day doing difficult things, and you know, a degree of unpopularity, in a funny sort of way, might make you more popular.
“Because somebody’s seeing that you’re standing up and making some difficult decisions rather than just sort of blowing with the wind a bit.”
