
Manchester United
Premier League • England
Man Utd staff ‘furious’ at ‘rudderless’ Ratcliffe leadership in wake of Ashworth sack, ticket price hikes

All is not well behind the scenes at Man Utd
Manchester United’s staff are reportedly ‘furious’ with club co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in the wake of his decision to sack sporting director Dan Ashworth.
Reports suggest that Ratcliffe was ‘pivotal’ to Ashworth’s officially ‘mutual’ departure after just five months at Old Trafford, after he was left disappointed by the Red Devils’ summer transfer business.
The decision, taken after Man Utd’s 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, came as a major shock as Ashworth looked set to play a major role in the restructuring of the club.
That’s according to Keith Wyness, who told Football Insider that many behind the scenes have been left frustrated by Ratcliffe’s recent decisions, namely the call to increase ticket prices for fans.
“Ratcliffe has started off on a very shaky peg,” Wyness said.
“There were protests last weekend outside the ground about the pricing at Old Trafford. He’s lost a lot of morale within the staff, I know that for a fact.
“A lot of United staff I’ve spoken to think the whole operation is just rudderless at the moment. They feel there are too many leaders at the top.
“It’s not a happy ship. But it does seem Amorim has made a good start, and could be the character to bind things together.”
READ MORE: Real reason Man Utd sacked Dan Ashworth indicated, with Ruben Amorim theory put forward
Man Utd staff left frustrated by Ratcliffe
Sky Sports reporter Melissa Reddy labelled Ratcliffe’s decision to sack Ashworth as ’embarrassing’ and said it doesn’t reflect well on INEOS’ decision-making record.
Reddy claimed the ‘sentiment is growing’ that it’s Man Utd’s fans and ‘ordinary people’ who are ‘paying for the mistakes’ of the club.
That comes on the back of mass redundancies since INEOS took over as well as Man Utd raising the minimum ticket price to £66 per game.
The total cost of sacking Erik ten Hag and his coaching staff – who many feel should have been dispensed with in the summer before he was handed a new contract – was revealed to be £10.4m by the club.
Adding in the £11m it took to hire Ruben Amorim and his coaching staff, the final tally stood at a whopping £21.4m. It hasn’t yet been revealed how much Ashworth will receive for leaving Man Utd.
But what’s clear is that all is not perfect behind the scenes at Old Trafford.
Sources have confirmed to TEAMtalk that Ashworth would’ve preferred to appoint Gareth Southgate or Eddie Howe as Man Utd’s manager, rather than Amorim, showing that the Portuguese’s arrival wasn’t fully agreed upon by the board.
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