Manchester United supporters directed their anger at the club's executives during Sunday's defeat to Bournemouth, turning Sir Jim Ratcliffe's own catchphrase back on him. Chants of "Best in class, you're having a laugh" rang out from the Stretford End after Bournemouth made it 3-0 at Old Trafford.
The 74-year-old Ratcliffe was not present for the match, but his executives Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada were in attendance and faced criticism from a fanbase described as having seen enough. The chant referenced the phrase Ratcliffe used when his investment in the club was confirmed in February 2024, when he spoke from Ineos' Knightsbridge offices about fixing the club's problems.
A Catchphrase Turned Against Its Author
Ratcliffe has now overseen the prospect of changing managers at Old Trafford mid-season for the third consecutive year. In February 2024, he said the "only conclusion you can draw is the environment in which they were working in didn't work" when discussing the churn of managers since Sir Alex Ferguson left.
He also outlined his vision for the club's structure: "What you need are the foundations to be in a good place for Manchester United to be successful, which means that, from our point of view anyway, you need the right organisational structure. Which means not having a coach reporting to the chief executive, for instance, which is what they've got at the moment. You need the right organisational structure, and that's not going to be too complicated."
Ratcliffe added: "Then we need to populate all the key roles with people who are best in class, 10 out of 10s, and there's clearly a lot of interest in those roles in Manchester United, because it's one of the biggest, if not the biggest football club in the world but it's also a fantastic challenge to take it from a difficult place to hopefully where it should be at the top of the pyramid. It does attract a lot of interest from very, very capable people. So we need to populate it with the right people, that sort of same thing."
Structural Decisions Under Scrutiny
The article questions whether Wilcox or Berrada would rate their work as 10 out of 10. Wilcox became director of football after Ratcliffe appointed a football executive widely considered the best in the country, only to dismiss him four months later. It also recalls that Dan Ashworth had suggested appointing Ruben Amorim mid-season was a bad idea, recommending instead a Premier League-proven head coach in Eddie Howe.
The piece concludes that the only thing best in class at United is the ability to become a punchline, noting that even Tottenham, which twice survived Premier League relegation, now appears to be on an upward trajectory. It suggests that for a club owned by absentee Americans and run by a septuagenarian focused on building a new stadium that matchgoers do not want, the situation may only get worse.
