Monday evening saw Gary Neville drop a bombshell interview with Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
This followed the fan’s protest prior to the 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday, which was the result of a series of unpopular decisions the minority owner has had to make.
Manchester United sit 14th in the Premier League, with the club’s on-field performance mimicking the issues off the pitch.
Ineos’ first year at United has been turbulent, with fans left fuming by several decisions the new regime has made in cost-cutting efforts such as ticket price rises.
United have also sacked over 250 members of staff in the past year, with a bloated workforce under the Glazers contributing to the financial peril the club finds itself in.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe interview reveals hard truths for Manchester United
The interview was shared by The Overlap and was a revealing tell-all about the situation United are in, on and off the pitch.
One major bombshell was Ratcliffe revealed United have already spent £89m this summer on transfers from before Ineos arrived at the club, such as paying off the Antony deal.
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Ratcliffe outlined errors he has made at United, with Dan Ashworth and Erik ten Hag named.
Frustratingly, Ratcliffe also admitted that United will raise ticket prices again next season despite the flack he came under for raising them to £66 earlier this campaign.
Due to all of this, fans had plenty to say about the situation and Ratcliffe.
Manchester United fans have plenty to say about Sir Jim Ratcliffe
After watching the interview, there are several positions a fan could take and none of them are necessarily wrong. Some were in support of Ratcliffe, while others were quite the opposite.
“I think Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes some good points and admits to honest mistakes, fair play”, one fan admitted on X.
A second admitted he had respect for Ratcliffe: “I have a lot of respect for Ratcliffe after hearing that interview. Explained everything so well, I’m impressed. Refreshing to see him acknowledge his own mistakes and why he has to make unpopular decisions. Hopefully, he actually saves us.”
Some fans were in agreement that the transparency from Ratcliffe is refreshing.
“We wanted communication & we got it. This was honest & direct from Sir Jim Ratcliffe. I do understand the criticisms, but some will overreact no matter what.”
“Not fond of Ratcliffe but one thing I will give him credit for is he doesn’t hide, he’s prepared to come out and explain why the club is making certain decisions. Whether we agree with them or not, it’s accountability and openness that we never got from the Glazers.”
Other fans thought that Ratcliffe was being unfairly treated when the Glazers should be getting the full focus of criticisms.
“How this interview has people hating on Ratcliffe and not the main villains in all this being the glazers is ridiculous tbh, it’s them who have caused all the damage here”, one argued.
Another wrote: “Jim Ratcliffe dodged the question about Glazers putting money back in because he knows that would dilute his personal shareholding if they did. It’s not in his interests for that to happen.”
“Respect everything Ratcliffe said, optics and PR of some of the decisions under him are the sacrifice he has to make for the Glazers running the club into the ground & now they have Ratcliffe as a shield for having to make the difficult decisions to repair their mess”, admitted a final fan.
While the majority were in support of Ratcliffe, some simply were not buying what the part owner was selling.
“Gary Neville has done an excellent job at exposing how idiotic Sir Jim Ratcliffe is”, slammed one fan.
Another explained: “Jim Ratcliffe justifying cutting free lunches for staff when there are footballers at United on over 200k a week might be the most tone-deaf thing you’ve ever seen.”
“Ratcliffe just cutting cost on needless things instead of focusing on the main culprits which are the footballers”, a final supporter claimed.