Well, if you are a Manchester United fan and you thought that your new owners, i.e., INEOS, are better than the old ones, i.e., the Glazers, think again. Because not only have INEOS recently disrespected perhaps Manchester United’s greatest ever legend, Sir Alex Ferguson, but have also created an air of mistrust between the club and it’s fanbase.The same kind of mistrust that was visible when the Glazers owned Manchester United.
According to the reports on the internet, INEOS has decided to cut Sir Alex Ferguson’s multi-million-pound ambassadorial contract with Manchester United. The reports suggest that “Ferguson will remain a non-executive director at the club, still obviously welcome to attend Man United games.” That’s a nice way to suggest you are done with someone.
During his time at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson won a record 13 English Premiership titles with the Mancunian side along with 2 Champions Leagues, one continental treble in the 2007-08 season and one domestic treble in the 1998-99 season. It would be fair to say that Sir Alex Ferguson alone is the reason Manchester United is still considered the biggest club in England, even after struggling to win trophies ever since Sir Alex’s retirement in 2013 after a 27-year stint with Manchester United.
Ever since parting ways with the Red Devils, Sir Alex Ferguson, who is now 82 years old, has been serving as an ambassador of the Club. His ambassadorship with the club has been earning him a yearly fee of a reported sum of $2.6 M. The INEOS board has been taking cost-cutting measures to curb its financial challenges, and the club has seen losses of close to $148 million in the financial year ending June 30, 2024. The decision to terminate Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorship was a part of this same cost-cutting process which has seen around 250 jobs being eliminated. INEOS claims that despite this being Manchester United’s 5th consecutive year of losses, United are still in compliance with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules.
And if that is so, surely a sum of 2.6 Million USD won’t be irrecoverable and can be still provided to fund Sir Alex’s Ambassadorship. Especially when he has been such a great influence to bring the club to where it is today. According to The Athletic, the decision to terminate the contract was made amicably with Sir Alex agreeing to serve as a non-executive director on the Manchester United Club Board. But that just sounds like some PR statement put out by the club.
If anything fans now Sir Alex deserves all the respect he gets and should have never been mistreated like this in the first place. Let us know your opinion about the whole situation in the comments below.
