Topics: Graeme Souness, Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson, Matthijs De Ligt
Graeme Souness has publicly criticised Manchester United for showing a lack of respect towards Sir Alex Ferguson.
Earlier this week, INEOS continued to their so-called 'cost-cutting programme' by terminating Ferguson's multi-million-pound ambassadorial role at Old Trafford.
A face-to-face meeting between Ferguson and Sir Jim Ratcliffe took place, where the latter explained that the club are keen on reducing costs and are no longer prepared to sustain his payments.
Ferguson, who is the most successful manager in their history with 38 major trophies to his name, will remain in a non-executive director role.
Advert
According to The Athletic, the news was dealt with 'amicably' but former Scotland international Graeme Souness is far from impressed with the decision, describing it as a "disgrace".
In fact, he claimed that it is "proof" that the people running the club "simply don’t understand how football works", and later brought up United's activity in the transfer window.
In his latest column for the Daily Mail, Souness began: "Simply by being around the place, Fergie is a reminder of the passion and quality that United should always be striving for. A symbol of the club’s great days, at a time when their dressing room looks so fragmented, with no one really believing they can be successful.
"Yet he seems to be viewed as just another employee. Just another casualty of the Ineos cost-cutting measures. What a disgrace. Where on earth is the respect? I have to tell these owners that they have embarrassed themselves."
Souness went on to describe Manchester United as a "cash cow that generate huge sums of money" before pointing out their annual revenue of £661.8 million.
"The annual £2 million they are cutting by dispensing with Fergie is a drop in the ocean," he added.
"For me, this decision is proof that the people now running the club simply don’t understand how football works, how Manchester United work and how supporters view that institution."
As mentioned above, Souness went on to criticise their business in the summer transfer window, where he singled out four players.
"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 two big trophies."
He added: "Just a final thought to finish, for the bean counters. Manchester United is currently valued at £4.96billion. How much of that is down to what Fergie did for the club over 26 years?
