Rene Meulensteen has offered a damning opinion of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Project 150 plans, which hope to see Manchester United atop the Premier League by 2028 in line with the club's anniversary
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos CEO and minority shareholder of Manchester United, at Foster + Partners Headquarters in Battersea, London
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been handed a brutal verdict on his Project 150 plans
(Image: PA)
Rene Meulensteen has admitted he has no belief in Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Project 150 plans being realised.
The INEOS founder and co-owner of Manchester United has bold aims of taking the Red Devils back to the top of the Premier League by 2028 - coinciding with the club's official 150-year anniversary. The Premier League title has eluded Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement at the end of the 2012/13 campaign.
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Despite enlisting a wealth of top-tier managers in the years since - from Louis van Gaal to Jose Mourinho - United have failed to come close to tasting the success they so regularly achieved in the Fergie era. And the iconic Scotsman's former right-hand man, Meulensteen, believes that Ratcliffe's plans are way off at present.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Meulensteen said: "They're miles away." He continued: "If you look at Manchester United, what they've lost is a kind of an authority, a kind of a fear factor, a kind of an identity so to speak. When Man United came to town, they rolled up, this is what you're going to get.
"At this moment in time, you don't know what you're going to get, you know? And that is, I think, testament for a lot of things. A lot of changes that haven't taken place, so many managers have come and gone.
"There's changes constantly about playing styles - we're going in at this moment, we're very keen on persisting to that 3-4-3 system, where everybody is debating and questioning, is that the right way forward?
"That constant winning culture that Manchester United had over the years has been diluted, and they look being further away than ever before. Look at their position in the Premier League, they're 13th or 14th, no chance of getting into the top four - very little chance of getting to Europe as well.
"Europa League is a massive competition for them to make sure that they stay in that, and that might be the back door for them to get into the Champions League." United currently sit 13th in the Premier League table under Ruben Amorim, who took the reins from Ten Hag in November following a lacklustre start to the campaign.
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson laughs with first team coach Rene Meulensteen during a training session at the Carrington training complex in Manchester
Rene Meulensteen worked as a first team coach under Sir Alex Ferguson
With just nine games left to play, the Red Devils are 11 points away from Europa League football for 2025/26, and 12 from qualifying for the Champions League. The side also recorded their lowest-ever top-flight finish in history last season in eighth and only qualified for European football by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
Therefore, winning UEFA's second-tier competition is Amorim's last remaining hope of realistically rescuing an otherwise dire campaign. A two-legged quarter-final with Lyon awaits next month.
While Project 150 looks like a far cry at present, Ratcliffe hasn't ruled out his audacious plans coming to fruition just yet. He told Sky Sports last month: "I do not think it's mission impossible.
"I think it's good to have goals." However, Meulensteen isn't the only one with doubts over Ratcliffe's ability to pull off his objective, with former United star Nicky Butt also weighing in on matters as of late.
As per the Mail, Butt said: "That ain't going to happen. It's going to be a long way off, and the most important thing is starting on the right foot.
"Hopefully get this season put to bed because it's been a disaster. What gets me is that everyone expects other clubs to sit still. Newcastle, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal will get better. Man City will definitely get better."
He added: "Over the years, Man United has looked like it's a plaster on a gaping wound. It doesn't work. They haven't got the finances, they have to get their house in order, they have to be a proper football club that work to a design, an ethos and a recruitment drive of how to get players in and get them out for big money.
"Obviously, they've got rid of Dan Ashworth, which I thought was a strange one, having worked so hard to get him from Newcastle. I think even if you got David Gill and Sir Alex back there, it's going to be a struggle for a long time. We're at the bottom of the mountain and there's a massive climb to get up."