Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been subject to a lot of criticism at Manchester United of late following redundancies and cuts to staff privileges like free lunches in the canteen.
It’s been widely reported that Ratcliffe will close the canteen at Old Trafford and Man United will now only offer free fruit to staff.
Of course, Sir Alex Ferguson pointed out in his autobiography how important he considered it to be to foster a family environment at Carrington whilst he was managing at the club.
And now it now seems safe to assume that Ferguson wouldn’t be best pleased with recent decisions made by the club, which some feel are killing the spirit that United have carefully created over the last few decades.
Ruben Amorim’s task of sorting out United’s fortunes on the pitch is already hard enough, and any damage to the feeling around the club certainly won’t help.
Rene Meulensteen says the ‘heart and soul’ is being ripped out of Man United
That being said, when speaking to Stadium Astro before United’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday, Ferguson’s former assistant Rene Meulensteen shared his thoughts on Ratcliffe’s cuts at United.
Meulensteen wasn’t pleased with INEOS’ business-type approach, even if he did understand the economic side of the decision.
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Meulensteen said: “Listen, I worked and I lived in that environment under Sir Alex and I loved every minute of it, every minute.
“It was a family, it was warm, everybody was appreciated, everybody was valued, everybody contributed that one thing – whether you were the lady doing the washing or the groundsman, it didn’t really matter.
“The thing is this, and a lot of people that come in and you know INEOS and Jim Ratcliffe come in, they’re used to running businesses and they’ll be very black and white and hard, they have these cost cutting strategies and I can understand that.
“But when you buy or run a football club, right, yes it’s a business at one end, but on the other hand, you’re buying the hearts and souls of the fans.
“And if you start doing things like that you’re basically ripping the heart and soul out of the club and that is very sad to see.”
INEOS continue to make poor decisions at Old Trafford
Of course, Ratcliffe also cancelled United’s Christmas party at the end of last year, another baffling decision in the context of things.
United reportedly only saved £250,000 by doing so, which surely pales into insignificance given how much is spent weekly in other areas.
As Meulensteen protests, United are at risk of killing all good will from their staff at United, a dangerous game to play.
There are positives on the pitch right now – Ayden Heaven was excellent against Arsenal for example.
But it doesn’t feel as if the club are currently pulling forwards in one united direction.
