INEOS’ insulting axing of Sir Alex Ferguson risks ruining Man Utd’s brilliant legacy – but for serial cost-cutter Sir Jim Ratcliffe it makes perfect sense

After sitting next to Ferguson numerous times at Old Trafford, away grounds, Wembley Stadium and during the Munich disaster memorial service, Ratcliffe has told the club’s greatest ever manager that his role as an ambassador, which he has held since retiring from the dugout in 2013, will come to an end at the end of the season.

Ferguson will no longer receive a salary and he will be barred from entering the dressing room. Since stepping down after winning 13 league titles, five FA Cups and two Champions Leagues, as well as making United the most popular club in the world, Ferguson has been a constant presence at games.

His legacy continues to loom large, not least because the team have not won a Premier League title or competed properly for the Champions League since his departure. He has a statue outside Old Trafford and the biggest stand in the stadium is still named after him. That is why Ratcliffe’s decision to cut Ferguson loose was so shocking.

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  ‘Totally scandalous’

  Eric Cantona, arguably Ferguson’s greatest signing who fired United to their first title in 26 years, was understandably irate when he learned of the news.

  “Sir Alex Ferguson should be able to do anything he wants at the club until the day he dies,” Cantona wrote on Instagram. “Such a lack of respect. It’s totally scandalous. Sir Alex Ferguson will be my boss forever! And I throw them all in a big bag of s***!”

  Rio Ferdinand, who played under Ferguson for 11 seasons, was also greatly surprised. He wrote on X: “If Sir Alex can be taken out, then NO ONE IS SAFE at Man Utd – anyone can get it now. Ineos sending a message to ANYONE at the club?!?”

  Perhaps they shouldn’t have been so surprised. Ratcliffe had already sacked 250 long-serving employees, many of whom do not have a fraction of Ferguson’s wealth to fall back on. Those redundancies and the decision to end Ferguson’s relationship with the club merely adheres to the same playbook Ratcliffe has followed throughout his business career, the one which led him to become the second richest person in Britain, worth an estimated £21 billion ($25bn), according to The Sunday Times.

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  Playing hardball

  In 2013, Ratcliffe had threatened to shut down an INEOS petrochemicals plant in Grangemouth, Scotland, unless workers agreed to his “survival plan”, which included job cuts, a freeze on wages, harsher redundancy terms and an end to workers’ final salary pensions.

  No less than 800 jobs were on the line and Scotland’s then-first minister, the late Alex Salmond, called it a “major industrial catastrophe”. During that dispute Ratcliffe took on Unite, one of the largest trade unions in the country, and temporarily shut down the plant after members had voted against his plans.

  Last November, a decade after the dispute, Petroineos (a joint venture between Ratcliffe’s firm and Petrochina) announced that the oil refinery at Grangemouth was to close, with 400 jobs set to be lost. The announcement was greeted with anguish, which then turned to anger a month later when Ratcliffe’s minority investment in United was confirmed.

  Ratcliffe’s victory over Unite and the Grangemouth workers emboldened the billionaire and he has continued to resort to play hardball whenever he has not got his way. He used similar tactics when negotiating with the Glazers to buy his minority stake in United last year, giving the American family a deadline of Christmas day to accept his offer and threatening to pull out of the deal altogether if they did not.

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  True colours

  And after a charm offensive which included meeting fan groups and the media, Ratcliffe is revealing his true colours. Ending Ferguson’s association with the club, as well as the redundancies, is part of a wider cost-cutting strategy. Some of the cost-cutting measures have invited little sympathy on those affected, such as removing company credit cards for executives or not paying for employees to travel to Wembley for the FA Cup final.

  Other measures look heartless, such as ending lunchboxes for agency workers and making them eat next to a toilet, ending home-working for staff or increasing the cost of parking for disabled supporters.

  With United needing to balance the books to meet the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability regulations, ending Ferguson’s ambassadorial role makes some sense. The former manager earned £2.1m ($2.7m) for his role, in addition to him having his own table in the restaurant area of the directors box for 12 guests.

  He did very little media or promotional work in exchange for his salary and will still be welcome to attend matches while retaining his position as a non-executive board member. United insist that Ferguson took the decision ‘amicably’.
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  Modelling the club on Man City

  Not all United fans were dismayed by the news. Many supporters see Ferguson as partly responsible for the Glazer takeover after falling out with the club’s previous owners JP McManus and John Magnier over a horse. Others see his continued presence at games as a distraction and a sign that they are unwilling to let go of the past.

  An alternative reading is that Ferguson deserves a special status for his 26 years in charge of the club and his role in making United the global force they are today. Even the Glazers, for all their faults, understood that. Ferguson’s salary was a drop in the ocean among United’s record revenues of £662m ($861m).

  Ratcliffe’s brutal move demonstrates that he cares little for the club’s storied legacy. Indeed, he seems to want to rebuild United in the shape of their hated rivals. He hired chief executive Omar Berrada from Manchester City, while technical director Jason Wilcox spent 11 years at the club. The club’s new head of communications Toby Craig also worked at City for a long stretch.

  Ratcliffe also wants to build a new stadium rather than renovate Old Trafford and there is a good chance the new ground, which the INEOS chief wants to get public funding to pay for its supporting structure, will be named after a sponsor. In a few years time United could be playing at the Snapdragon Stadium, with little trace of the club Ferguson rebuilt.

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  Patient with Ten Hag, ruthless with Ferguson

  If the team can replicate City’s success by then, Ratcliffe’s overhaul and his initial cost-cutting regime will be seen as worth it. But unlike in business, cost-cutting is rarely a good recipe for success in football. Despite a net spend of £100m ($130m) on players in the summer transfer window, United’s squad still feels remarkably unbalanced, lacking in regular goalscorers and in real leaders others can rally behind.

  And they have a coach who is fast running out of credit and of patience from the fans. It is remarkable that despite a hellish start to the season, United prioritised dispensing with Ferguson before Erik ten Hag. Ratcliffe’s patience with the Dutchman despite dreadful results (two wins from seven Premier League games and two heavy home defeats) flies in the face of the ruthlessness he has shown with other areas of the club.

  A big factor in him keeping faith with the manager is surely the fact that sacking him so early in the season would make a mockery of the fact that he bottled the decision to part with him in the summer. Firing Ten Hag before the next international break, after triggering his contract extension, would cost roughly an extra £6m ($7.8m) than over the summer.

  That could have paid for Ferguson’s continued presence three times over. For all the talk of financial prudence around the cost-cutting, United keep on making reckless financial decisions. But the ones who served the club the best are the ones footing the bill.