Man Utd owners 'embarrassed themselves' as Liverpool legend labels decision a 'disgrace'

Graeme Souness has accused Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Man Utd owners of their “disgrace” over their decision to stop Sir Alex Ferguson’s £2m annual payments.

Man Utd Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been ruthless – barring really major football issues such as an underperforming manager – since he bought a 27.7% minority stake in the Premier League giant earlier this year.

In recent months, Ratcliffe has led a cost-cutting program as there have been mass redundancies at Old Trafford.

These actions recently impacted legendary former manager Ferguson. This was announced earlier this week INEOS has decided to end “a multi-million pound commitment” to the Scot.

Since retiring in 2023, Ferguson has been Man Utd's global ambassador and club director. In return he received “£2.16 million for his services”.

However, these payments are no longer being made and Ferguson's role has changed to that of a non-executive director.

Souness, who faced Ferguson 20 times as coach, strongly criticized the decision in his Daily Mail column.

“What a shame. 'Where on earth is the respect?' he wrote. “I have to tell these owners that they have embarrassed themselves.”

“The amount of money he received may have been significant, but is his role really one that the bean counters needed to consider in terms of cost savings?”

“United is a cash cow that generates huge amounts of money even when they are in the doldrums like they are now.”

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“Their last reported annual income was £661.8 million.” The £2 million annual saving from not having Fergie is a drop in the ocean. For me, this decision is evidence that the people running the club now simply don't understand how football works, how Man Utd works and how the fans view this institution.

“From what we have seen so far, the players they have signed this summer – Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui – will not let United compete for the major trophies.” The fifth player, Leny Yoro , we didn't see it because he was injured before the season.

“On Saturday afternoon the club face Brentford, one of the minnows who are three places above them.” This game is also very dangerous for the current United team.

“Just a final thought for the bean counters. Man Utd is currently worth £4.96 billion. How much of that is down to what Fergie did for the club over 27 years?'

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