Sir Alex Ferguson's trusted ally hits out at the Glazers over repeated Man Utd mistakes

Rene Meulensteen was first team coach at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson and was present at Old Trafford for three Premier League titles and a Champions League win

Former Manchester United coach and trusted Sir Alex Ferguson ally Rene Meulensteen has placed the blame for the club's downfall firmly at the door of the Glazers.

The Red Devils owners have been much-maligned in some corners since their leveraged takeover of the club in 2005 and earlier this year sold some of their shares to Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Despite their controversial arrival, United were able to maintain success under Sir Alex Ferguson's guidance and issues on the pitch only took root from the legendary manager's departure.

The club has seen a series of managers in David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer all unable to sustain any kind of success. Erik ten Hag is the latest to make an attempt having won a trophy in each of his first two seasons in charge but is under severe pressure after an indifferent start to 2024/25.

Meulensteen believes mismanagement of the club overall has been the central issue holding United back since Ferguson departed in 2013. "In a nutshell, when you anticipate change, you need to react in advance to make sure that, okay, how are we going to manage that?" the Dutchman said on the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast with Sam Allardyce.

"I can remember having a conversation with David Gill [ex-United chief executive] in 2011, we were in Malaysia having a coffee and sitting together, and I said to him, your biggest challenge is to manage Man United beyond the departure of Sir Alex.

“You try to find a solution within, so you keep the DNA, you keep the stability, you keep the continuity, or you go for somebody outside, and there are not many candidates there that can handle the size of Man United and everything that goes with it, plus play in an attractive way of football and win things.

“There are two things, culture and identity, on and off the pitch. The Manchester United identity off the pitch is the brand. That's brilliant, and it will still be there. But it was very much fueled by the success that Sir Alex Ferguson and all the players and everybody created. Because everybody wants to associate themselves with success.

Image: John Peters) John Peters)

“Now that success has been taken away over the last 10-plus years, and a lot of changes have happened - managers coming in, managers going, players coming in, others going and they're never able to find the same sort of success formula to play that attacking and attractive way, and win things and compete for the Premier League. So it is hard to say, but it's been down to mismanagement.”

"At the end of the day if you are owners you have to take ownership, and the most important thing is the guidance from the ownership," Meulensteen added. "They have to put the right people in place, and then it’s managing the whole club, the technical side. Initially, there was this discussion of why does Manchester United not have a technical director. Why did it not have a director of football?”

Ratcliffe's arrival at Old Trafford has seen an overhaul of the sporting hierarchy. Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox have arrived as sporting director and technical director respectively while ex-Manchester City chief Omar Berrada took the role of the club's CEO in the summer. Allardyce believes the introduction of so many new faces could also be problematic.

"They got all of them, and whether that’s too many time will tell," the ex-Newcastle and Bolton manager said. "But when you look at how many conflicting opinions there might be now, too many voices. If you got that conflict with that, like Wilcox, Dan Ashworth, you've got all these people who have their own ideas on what you should get and what you shouldn't get. So I hope it works, because we need Man United to be Man United again."

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