Nicky Butt has offered his two cents on Manchester United co-owner and Ineos chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe speaking out publicly on the Red Devils under his reign.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe captured his minority stake in Manchester United in 2023 and the 72-year-old British billionaire has faced his own challenges at Old Trafford.
The Ineos boss has seen his organisation take control of football operations at the Red Devils and Ratcliffe has been criticised for the decisions that have been made.
Ratcliffe and Ineos have committed to several unpopular decisions at Old Trafford amid the 2024-25 campaign, including raising matchday tickets for United fans.
The United co-owner has even acted on cost-cutting measures at the Premier League club in a bid to improve the Red Devils’ financial arm for the long term.
Among the decisions from Ratcliffe and Ineos have included cutting staff meals at Old Trafford, reducing the headcount at United and ending working from home.
READ MORE: Man Utd controversy that Sir Jim Ratcliffe faced at Old Trafford is ended once and for all by Ineos chief, his position is clear
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
What Nicky Butt pointed out in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Man Utd interview
Following Manchester United’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford in the Premier League, Sir Jim Ratcliffe touched on the current problems facing the Red Devils.
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The Ineos chief spoke with BBC Sport in an interview and Ratcliffe also chatted with Nicky Butt’s former United and England teammate Gary Neville for The Overlap.
Ratcliffe touched on many different topics since his time at the Red Devils, including his position and feelings on current United manager Ruben Amorim.
United legend Butt claimed that Ratcliffe and Ineos should be putting their focus on the Red Devils first team over Old Trafford and the Carrington training complex.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “I’d pick the team because it’s more visual for everybody to see.
“The worldwide fans don’t see the training ground, the worldwide fans don’t always see what’s going on with Old Trafford, but in general, the team, everyone sees that the spotlights and the media on it talk about it 24/7.”
Butt added that Ratcliffe showed “some cojones” by agreeing to do sitdown interviews without knowing the result of United and Arsenal’s clash last Sunday.
“Collectively, it’s a disaster but one thing [that] came out of the interview for me was at least Jim Ratcliffe speaking and at least he’s trying to address things and I think it took some cojones, if you like, to go and arrange all the interviews the day after the Arsenal game because then anything could have happened at that game,” he explained.
READ MORE: Sir Jim Ratcliffe proves to Man Utd fans why they should believe in him with ultimate sacrifice he is ready to make
Nicky Butt now drops a reality check on Man Utd’s current situation
Butt pointed out that the Red Devils are now “far off” from challenging for a place in any European competition, including for the Champions League next season.
“No, I don’t think anyone can and don’t think the people at the top can either because I think they generally thought we’ll scrape into the Champions League this year,” he said.
“We’ll keep the company’s money coming in and we’ll kick on again next year and [in] two or three years’ time, we might challenge again.
“But the squad, unfortunately, is that far off not winning. It’s that far off even getting a Champions League or European spot and that’s the sad part of it.”
United languish in 14th place in the Premier League table and Ruben Amorim’s men are 15 points adrift from the top four in the 2024-25 campaign.