Man Utd: Ferguson ‘told to stay away’ amid ‘policy change’ as Cantona slams ‘scandalous’ Ratcliffe

Club legend Eric Cantona has slammed Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the rest of Manchester United’s board after Sir Alex Ferguson had his ambassador role taken away.

INEOS chief Ratcliffe completed his takeover of Man Utd at the start of this year. He purchased a 27.7% minority stake in the Premier League giants.

As part of this deal, the British billionaire has taken control of footballing matters at Old Trafford and has had a busy few months as he’s made significant changes.

Ratcliffe has overhauled Man Utd’s recruitment model and brought in Ruud van Nistelrooy as Erik ten Hag’s assistant head coach.

The 71-year-old has also implemented a ‘cost-cutting programme’. There have been mass redundancies at Old Trafford, and The Athletic have revealed that Ferguson has had his global club ambassador role taken away.

Ferguson had been in this role since his retirement in 2013 as the Glazer family made ‘a multi-million pound annual commitment’ to the legendary manager.

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The report said.

‘INEOS has been exhausting all avenues to reduce costs and that led it to zoom in on the club’s commitment to Ferguson, aged 82, who is still a regular attendee of games in the directors’ box both at home and away matches.

‘But now, in a face-to-face meeting at Old Trafford, INEOS founder and CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe told Ferguson that the club are seeking to reduce costs and are no longer prepared to sustain his payments.

‘United sources — who, like all in this piece, spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject — said that the matter has been dealt with amicably and he will remain a non-executive director at the club and be welcome to attend games.’

Reacting to this news, Cantona hit out at the United board. He wrote on Instagram: ‘Sir Alex Ferguson should be able to do anything he wants at the club until the day he dies. Such a lack of respect.

‘It’s totally scandalous. Sir Alex Ferguson will be my boss forever! And I throw them all in a big bag of sh*t!’

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A new report from The Daily Mail claims Ferguson has been ‘told to stay away from the Man Utd dressing room’ as part of a ‘policy change’.

While United ‘deny they have directly banned Ferguson’, this certainly does come across as such.

‘Sir Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United football board have been asked not to enter the dressing room at Old Trafford – breaking a tradition that stretches back to the days of Sir Matt Busby.

‘Earlier on Tuesday it emerged that Ferguson had seen his multi-million pound ambassadorial role stripped by the club’s new part owner INEOS, as part of a wide-ranging cost-cutting programme.

‘And Mail Sport can reveal that in a further, controversial move Ferguson – the most successful manager in the club’s history – will no longer enter the inner sanctum following matches as part of a change in policy.

‘United deny that they have directly banned Ferguson from the changing room but say there is now a ‘collective understanding’ over who goes inside.’