Paul Scholes: 'I can’t think of anything positive Ineos has done for Manchester United'
Former Manchester United and England player Paul Scholes has said he cannot think of "something positive" that the club's boss has done following his takeover a year ago.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's company Ineos acquired a 25% stake in Manchester United in December 2023, which includes the responsibility of managing the club’s football operations.
Since then, the 72-year-old billionaire from Failsworth in Oldham has defended the need to make "difficult and unpopular decisions" at Old Trafford.
Paul Scholes believes ticket price increases show that Ratcliffe does not care about the fans.
It follows the controversial mid-season call to raise ticket prices to £66 per match without concessions for children or pensioners – a decision which United fans protested against before the team's home fixture with Everton in December 2024.
Former United midfielder Scholes told The Overlap Fan Debate: “£66 for a ticket is ridiculous. If you think of Manchester, there are so many deprived areas and Sir Jim Ratcliffe himself is from Failsworth, which is a deprived area.
“If you take one kid with you, that’s £120, if you take a family, you’re looking at £300-400 - it’s not right.
“They (Ineos Group) have been in charge for nearly a year now and everything is still negative. I can’t think of something positive that they’ve done for the football club.”
Around 250 members of staff have been made redundant over the past 12 months and Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial role is ending among ongoing cost-cutting measures introduced by Ineos.
On the field, United have not won for five games under new boss Ruben Amorim – ending a run of four consecutive defeats with a 2-2 draw at league leaders Liverpool on Sunday 5 January.
United are currently 13th place in the Premier League table – only seven points above the relegation zone.
Scholes said: “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, he’s still hiking prices up. It just shows that they don’t care.”