Manchester United former midfielder Paul Scholes lashed out at the club’s owners – Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS for not doing anything positive since taking over the ownership. United have struggled on the pitch as they are currently in 13th place in the Premier League standings and Scholes reckons the Old Trafford-based club is not on the right track.
Ratcliffe’s company INEOS acquired a 27.7% stake in United in December 2023 but the changes haven’t yielded a positive result for the club.
Furthermore, the club has decided to raise matchday ticket prices to £66 per league game, with no discounts for children or pensioners, which has led to protests from fans. Scholes questioned the owners for increasing the matchday ticket prices despite mundane performance.
“[INEOS] have been in charge [of United] for nearly a year now and everything is still negative,” Scholes said on The Overlap Football Fan Debate. “I can’t think of something positive that they’ve done for the football club.
“Things are getting worse on the football pitch so couldn’t they have just said that they’d do cheaper tickets — couldn’t they just give us something positive? How can you ask Manchester United fans to pay more money with what’s on the football pitch?
“Where do these owners get the front to put ticket prices up for what we’re watching? For the value, we’re probably having our worst ever Premier League season and they’ve got the cheek to put the prices up.
“There is nothing positive happening with that football club. The team look bang average. They’re not doing anything for fans.
“If we’ve got Sir Jim Ratcliffe, compared to all these American owners, who’s been a United fan since growing up in an area in Manchester, and he’s still hiking prices up. It just shows that they don’t care.”
Manchester United played a 2-2 draw against table-leaders Liverpool on Sunday. United will take on Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday.