Sir Jim Ratcliffe's short spell in charge at Manchester United has been anything but smooth, and Gary Lineker has reeled off four "shambolic" decisions the British billionaire has made so far
Sir Jim Ratcliffe walks out of the tunnel at Old Trafford
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's tenure at Man Utd hasn't exactly been going to plan
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Image: Getty Images)
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Gary Lineker has ripped into Sir Jim Ratcliffe, branding his reign at Manchester United "shambolic".
The Red Devils' season hit a new low at the weekend following their dismal 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford - a result which came a few hours before the shock departure of sporting director Dan Ashworth, who'd only been in the job for five months. It leaves United 13th in the Premier League table, and just 10 points above the relegation zone, with problems mounting on and off the pitch.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker offered a grim assessment of the club's current predicament and reeled off four major blunders Ratcliffe, 72, has made in his 10-month tenure as United owner. "Ratcliffe came in and everyone thought that all was going to be well, but it's actually been more shambolic in many ways," the ex-England striker, 64, said.
"We've seen the whole Erik ten Hag situation over the summer when they were interviewing other managers. They ended up going back to Ten Hag and giving him a contract, and then a few months later they fire him and there's loads of compensation for that.
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"They brought Dan Ashworth in and now he's out the door. They've put the ticket prices up and lots of fans are not happy about that. They've made big changes at the football club, they've moved out the women's football team. It's been a shambles."
Alan Shearer agreed, noting: "Not only are they poor on the pitch, what on earth is going on off the pitch? I mean, it's embarrassing to go out and get a guy [Ashworth] and for him to be on gardening leave for six months, he spent longer on gardening leave than he did in his position at Man United.
"They paid, what, £3million compensation for him and then he leaves, it's a terrible look. What on earth is going on at that football club?"
Ruben Amorim, who replaced Ten Hag as manager in November, started his tenure fairly brightly with two wins and a draw in his opening three matches. But back-to-back defeats to Arsenal and Forest have soured the mood at Old Trafford, particularly with tricky fixtures against Manchester City and Tottenham around the corner.
Gary Lineker pulled no punches when discussing Sir Jim Ratcliffe's tenure at Man Utd
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Image:
The Rest Is Football podcast)
United's precarious position is made even starker given how much money the club have spent on players over the past few years. During Ten Hag's two-and-a-bit-year reign, nearly £600m worth of new talent was brought in, and Lineker believes Amorim must be scratching his head wondering how the money has been spent.
"They spent £600m in the Ten Hag tenure... Amorim must have come in and thought 'Is this what you've got?' However good Amorim is he's got one hell of a job on his hands."
With Amorim keen to implement a three-at-the-back system at United, additions are expected to be made in January. That said, it's understood that prior to the 39-year-old's arrival, Ratcliffe wanted the new manager to get the very best out of the current crop of players before sanctioning another transfer splurge. But with issues piling up both on and off the pitch, pressure to spend might be too hard to resist.
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