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Eric Cantona, the Manchester United legend, has said that the English club is getting destroyed under Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose Ineos Group co-owns them after buying a 27.7% stake from the Glazer family last year, which was worth £1.25 billion. The 58-year-old criticised the impending departure of former manager Alex Ferguson as global ambassador of the club and the plans to destroy Old Trafford in favour of a new stadium apart from taking unpopular measures to improve the finances of Manchester United.
After taking control of football operations of Manchester United from the Glazer family last year, Ineos Group unveiled their plans to build a 100,000 capacity ground worth £2 billion close to Old Trafford. But at the same time, they made two rounds of redundancies and raised the ticket prices recently, to keep the club financially intact, especially after one of the recent reports from BBC Sport stated that they would have “run out of cash by the end of this year” if not for changes.
I feel sad to see United in this kind of situation: Eric Cantona
During his appearance at an event of a non-league club named FC United, which has been founded by the angry and dissatisfied Manchester United fans, Eric Cantona was quoted as saying, “Since Ratcliffe arrived this team of directors try to destroy everything and they don't respect anybody.” Notably, the Frenchman, who played 185 times for Manchester United in the mid 1990s, registered to become co-owner of FC United along with few of his family members.
“I feel sad to see United in this kind of situation. They decided something else. They have another strategy, another project. I support United because I really love United, but now if I was a fan and I had to choose a club I don't think I would choose United,” Eric Cantona further said. With such stark remarks from one of the greatest players in Manchester United history, it will be interesting to see whether the club officials address his concerns head-on.
