No class? No integrity? Why Ratcliffe’s Man Utd now spiral on and off the field

Note: How long? How long before the United Review formally ditches the traditional handshake on the front cover? The decision will surely come soon. After all, the idea of ​​community and today’s Manchester United is fast disappearing…

Forget the team’s slide. The form collapse. Such things are temporary. They can be fixed. But the way Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos crowd cut their way through the club’s culture and history could be recoverable.

No class. No integrity. There is no getting around it. The behavior of this site is a disgrace. News of Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting now reaching an ex-players’ charity is just the latest actions by a management team that show more and more how little they know about running a football club.

It broke last week: the annual £40,000 club donation to the Association of former Manchester United The players were oxidized. discontinued. And while in the afternoon the protests are loud and righteous – that’s not the half of it.

Because, you see, the Ineos site did not even inform the Association of their decision. The trustee, Jim Elms, a former United player who has been involved with the charity for almost 40 years, had to do some digging himself. There was no call from Ratcliffe. Nothing from Omar Berrada, the chief executive. After not one, but two of the regular £10,000 installments failed to land in the charity’s account, it was up to Jim, 84, to chase the club and ask what was going on? Again, no class. No integrity. A charity created by former United players. To serve former United players in their time of need. Abandoned. Without any word or explanation.

“We’ve been running it since 1985,” Jim said the sun. “Keeping the old players together. Taking care of those who couldn’t pay for funerals.

“I just can’t understand them myself. It’s ridiculous.”

Can’t you understand, Jim? Well, none of us can. Although it is par for the course with Ratcliffe and the site. As we say, the painting of the fan and player shaking hands on the front cover of the United Review is quickly losing its meaning.

Something is broken with this site. And perhaps Jim should have been warned as we have highlighted it in past columns. The treatment of the ex-players’ charity is no different to how Ineos view and treat the club’s existing staff.

And nothing can showcase that more than another story we have from Old Trafford this week Bruno Fernandes. Ratcliffe’s decision not to include staff for last season’s trip to Wembley for the FA Cup final is now infamous. But it gets worse, folks.

Again, Fernandes was so stunned by the decision that the club’s captain approached the management and offered to bankroll the trip for staff. Bruno would take care of the tickets, the travel, the accommodation. Everything. Ratcliffe and Ineos could not recognize it. But a football club is about inclusion. Everyone is connected. Involved. From Sir Matt to Sir Alex, by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. That’s how the place was run. While Ratcliffe wanted to pinch pennies, Fernandes was happy to offer a solution to keep everyone happy and together.

However, the management vetoed the idea. Why? Well, that is yet to come to light. pettiness? disgusting? Take your pick. But as an annual £40 donation to a charity created by and for ex-United players, Fernandes’ actions – and their benefits – were something the site couldn’t get their head around.

A defeat at Wolves a week ago served as a fifth loss in ten games for Rob Amorim. Not since Walter Crickmer, in 1932, has a United manager experienced such a start. And the Portuguese is not helped by the behavior and actions of those above him.

Ratcliffe couldn’t see it. Berrada, perhaps, does not understand it. But in a football club, everything and everyone is connected. The players. The staff. They want to be proud to be part of Manchester United. But how can you be proud of decisions like what we saw last week? And further, why would you want to be associated with an organization that behaved like the highest brass when implementing the decisions?

At 84, Jim Elm should look back on 40 years of work with pride. How should those within United who helped his charity serve so many connected to the club. Instead, they cut him off. Abandoned by a club he did so much for.

On and off the pitch, Manchester United are spiraling. And we all know who is to blame…