“Incompetent” Ratcliffe accused of wrecking Man United just like he did OGC Nice | OneFootball

INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been accused of destroying Manchester United in the same way he ruined OGC Nice.

Ratcliffe’s troubled United spell

Ratcliffe’s tenure at United has faced several setbacks, with the sacking of head coach Ruben Amorim last week being the latest in a series of mishaps.

Upon resuming operational control of the club in February 2024, Ratcliffe implemented a raft of extremely unpopular cost-cutting measures. In addition to making hundreds of staff redundant and cancelling Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial contract, he also hiked ticket prices – a move that sparked fan protests.

Worse still, INEOS’ failures are reflected in the team’s performances. United slumped to a 15th-place finish under his watch, their worst ever in the Premier League.

Despite this, Amorim was still kept in the job and only sacked once fractures in his relationship with the hierarchy could no longer be hidden.

Furthermore, the handling of other key figures like Erik ten Hag and sporting director Dan Ashworth was underwhelming, leaving much to be desired in their execution and impact.

In the 2-2 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor, a section of United fans unveiled a banner that read “JIM CANT FIX THIS.’ The petrochemicals billionaire has come under fresh pressure over his management of the club and now, OGC Nice fan club leader Solange Claude has added to the criticism.

Ratcliffe ripped to shreds

Speaking to The Sun, Claude said, “Please get out of our club NOW.”

“Ratcliffe may be an expert in the chemicals industry, but he has shown he knows nothing about football. He is an incompetent.”

“I can understand how all those United fans must be feeling. What he is doing to their club he has already done to ours.”

He added, “He bought us for €100million in 2019 and promised we would rival PSG as a regular European competitor. There are Sunday morning teams who play ten times better than us at times.”

Ratcliffe is on record saying that Nice games do not excite him.

Asked about these comments, Claude explained, “Who’s fault is that? He got us into Europe alright. Result, we are bottom of the Europa League after losing all six games. It didn’t help that he sold some of our best players as soon as we had qualified and has not replaced them.”

On the recent incident in which some Nice supporters attacked the players and mobbed the team at the training ground, Claude remarked, “They were not our members. They were the ultras who have been banned from travelling. We are more reasonable people, but we have reached the end of our tether.”

“We have become the clowns of Europe – a laughing stock because Ratcliffe has not brought in new players, not even one or two from United. The whole thing has been a fiasco.”

He continued, “We now fear relegation and, if that happened, it would be the end of us. There was plenty of optimism when Ratcliffe’s brother Bob was first appointed to run us. He did not last too long, nor did Dave Brailsford, the cycling man out of his depth in football.”

“That sums up the whole approach. Now people from the past have been put in charge, A bit like what is happening at United, I hear.”

United are next in action on Saturday when they face Manchester City in the derby.

Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images

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