Paul Scholes has accused Manchester United of taking a ‘begging’ approach, despite having boasted for many years of being one of the richest clubs in football.
These are uncertain times for Manchester United with co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe introducing cost-cutting measures while announcing plans to build a new £2 billion, 100,000-capacity stadium to replace Old Trafford.
It is also a time when morale around the club is low, with United’s first-team sat 13th in the Premier League after struggling to win football matches on a consistent basis since Ruben Amorim took charge as United head coach.
To make matters worse, Ineos have announced another 200+ redundancies to follow on from last year’s axe of 250 employees.
United have also announced that season ticket prices will increase by 5% ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, ensuring that match-going fans will pay more to show their loyalty towards a team not meeting expectations on an annual basis.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Paul Scholes slams Manchester United
Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes claims United are ‘begging a little’ financially as they attempt to tackle over 20 years of gross mismanagement from the Glazers.
Scholes has urged United fans to be cautious when it comes to Ratcliffe following a range of interviews that took place since the latest stadium announcement.
“You can be gullible at times, and believe what he [Sir Jim Ratcliffe] says, just because you’ve never heard anyone say anything before,” Scholes said on The Overlap Fan Debate.
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“You don’t know how realistic it is, it’s all up in the air. Words are cheap, and we could say anything about anyone, you can say in 10 years we’ll have the biggest and best stadium in the world, you can say anything!
“For a long time, we’ve been called the richest club in the world, but I feel like we’re begging a little bit, coming out and asking for the stadium and that we need £2 billion, and selling players to buy players.”
Scholes has aimed a dig at the Glazers for their lack of communication with United fans over the years, but they also never showed any care for Old Trafford, which is why it has aged in comparison to modern stadiums elsewhere.
Ineos want to bring the best stadium in the UK to United, but many supporters strongly believe that is already the case with Old Trafford.
Time for United to leave Old Trafford
Traditionalists within the fanbase will argue their reasons for keeping Old Trafford.
But they will not be joined by Scholes, who previously stated that the time is right for United to move on from the Theatre of Dreams.
The 11-time Premier League winner, who insisted he has many happy memories from his playing days at Old Trafford, was left impressed by the new stadium announcement.
“I was quite excited about it, obviously the stadium holds a lot of happy memories for me,” Scholes told TNT Sports.
“But look, I have played in some of the greatest stadiums in the world. You look at the Santiago Bernabeu and the Nou Camp, the San Siro, they’ve got great history.
“This place has got that type of great history about it as well, but I think it is time that Manchester United caught up stadium-wise. As much as it will be sad to say goodbye, I think the time is right to move to a new, better, bigger, brilliant stadium that it looks like this one is going to be.”