Man Utd owners 'have embarrassed themselves' as Liverpool legend slams 'disgrace' of a decision

Graeme Souness has laid into Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Man Utd owners for their ‘disgrace’ of a decision to end Sir Alex Ferguson’s annual £2m payments.

Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been ruthless – except with actual important footballing issues like an under-performing manager – since he purchased a 27.7% minority stake in the Premier League giants at the start of this year.

In recent months, Ratcliffe has overseen a cost-cutting programme as there have been mass redundancies at Old Trafford.

These measures have recently impacted legendary former manager Ferguson. Earlier this week it was revealed that INEOS have decided to ‘end a multi-million pound commitment’ to the Scotsman.

Since retiring in 2023, Ferguson has been Man Utd’s global ambassador and club director. For this, he ‘received £2.16m for his services’.

But those payments will no longer be made and Ferguson’s role has changed to that of a a non-executive director.

Souness, who faced Ferguson 20 times as a coach, has slammed the decision in his Daily Mail column.

‘What a disgrace. Where on earth is the respect?’ he wrote. ‘I have to tell these owners that they have embarrassed themselves.

‘The sum of money he was getting may have been considerable, but is his role really one that the bean counters needed to be looking at for their cost savings?

‘United are a cash cow that generates huge sums of money, even when they are in the doldrums, as they are right now.

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‘Their latest reported annual revenues were £661.8million. The annual £2m they are cutting by dispensing with Fergie is a drop in the ocean. For me, this decision is proof that the people now running the club simply don’t understand how football works, how Man Utd work and how supporters view that institution.

‘On the evidence of what we’ve seen so far, the players they signed this summer — Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui — are not going to get United challenging for the big trophies. We’ve not seen the fifth, Leny Yoro, because he was injured pre-season.

‘On Saturday afternoon, the club take on Brentford, one of the minnows who are three places above them. Even this game is a very dangerous one for the current United team.

‘Just a final thought for the bean counters. Man Utd are currently valued at £4.96billion. How much of that is down to what Fergie did for the club over 27 years?’

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