Manchester United must “get rid of all the s**t” at the club in order to progress under new part-ownership.
That was allegedly the brutal advice former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson gave to the new part owners of the club when asked about where the club needs to move forward.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group purchased a 25% stake in the Red Devils earlier this month, and will take ownership of the day to day running of the club rather than the majority owners, the Glazer family.
The new owners are already making strides to improve things off the pitch, having appointed former Man City CFO Omar Berrada as the club’s new CEO.
Manchester United are also keen to lure Newcastle’s sporting director Dan Ashworth to the club, and he has since been placed on gardening leave by the Magpies as the two clubs try and thrash out a compensation fee.
Ferguson advice highlights “massive task” facing owners
But improvements are needed on the pitch, too, and attention is already starting to turn on summer recruitment and the future of manager Erik ten Hag.
According to former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson, Ratcliffe’s senior aide Sir Dave Brailsford has already courted the advice of Ferguson and he did not hold back with his frank response.
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“The Manchester United job is going to be a massive story in the summer,” Lawrenson told Paddy Power.
"I'm on exactly the same page as Sir Alex Ferguson." Manchester United's new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to knock Manchester City "off their perch" as soon as possible. #BBCFootball #PL #ManUtd pic.twitter.com/l181t7erMV
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 21, 2024
“I read a thing the other day and I’ve no reason to believe it wasn’t true, that the top man was saying to the new head of recruitment that he needs to get cheaper players or accept less money and go for the incentivisation. That’s the first stupid mistake they’ve made – even just to say that in public is nuts.
“The other thing with Manchester United is they need new recruitment, but why not go back to Sir Alex Ferguson?
“Not as manager but rope him in and have the discussions because he knows more about football than anybody.
“Apparently, Sir Alex spoke to Dave Brailsford to give him some advice, and Fergie just went ‘get rid of all the s**t’ which, to be fair, is exactly what they need to do.
“You look at some of the players there and they’re just not performing. It’s a massive task.”