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‘Never won anything’ – Jim Ratcliffe slams Man Utd over David Moyes decision

  /  autty

SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has slammed Manchester United's decision to appoint David Moyes as manager.

Moyes took over at Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

Ferguson was a key figure in the selection process for his successor.

But his fellow Scot struggled to have the impact many hoped - and he was sacked by April after less than a year in the dugout.

And minority owner Ratcliffe hit out at the appointment as he highlighted two reasons why Moyes was destined to fail.

Ratcliffe told The Times: "Look, I like David Moyes, and I think he’s a really good manager.

"But to go from Sir Alex Ferguson to Moyes is not where I would have gone.

"Moyes stepped into the shoes of Ferguson, who’s won the Premier League 13 times, who won the Champions League twice and then you’re handing over to a guy that has never managed big players and had never won anything.

"He’s not necessarily got the personality to stand in front of them all."

But despite being one of Britain's richest people and supporting United since he was a boy, Ratcliffe's spell has not gone down well with fans.

He bought his £1billion stake in his beloved Red Devils in December 2023 and has been on a huge cost-cutting drive since - including hiking ticket prices, making redundancies and cancelling the staff Christmas party.

And now Ratcliffe has responded to the criticism by threatening to walk out on the club if it continues.

He added: "It can be unpleasant. And I’ve probably failed on the having fun front. I mean, I can put up with it for a while.

"I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make at the moment.

"So, eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, look, enough’s enough guys, let somebody else do this.

"They can’t really come to a match, the Glazers. They’ve retreated into the shadows a bit now, so I’m getting all the bloody stick.

“We bought in and I haven’t seen them since.

"At the moment, I don’t have security, I don’t have to walk around like that.

"But it would defeat the object, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t tolerate it at that level, it just wouldn’t be fun."

Ratcliffe also singled out the previous regime for allowing the state of United to slip down.

He said: "I wouldn’t have tolerated Ed Woodward, or Richard Arnold.

"Richard was a rugby man, he didn’t even understand football. Ed didn’t have the credentials to manage the club.

"He was a merchant banker, an accountant. He wasn’t the chief executive.

"The management of Manchester United have been given a huge amount of rope.

"The owners just managed the club and left the football side alone and they’ve made a lot of very poor decisions over 12 years, stupid things.

"They made a complete c***-up of it, shocking really. They couldn’t see where they were headed."