‘I wouldn’t have tolerated them’ – Jim Ratcliffe reveals who he blames for shambolic state of Man Utd in scathing attack

SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has taken aim at Manchester United’s previous custodians – and claims they made a “complete cock-up” of running the club.

The 72-year-old completed his partial takeover at Old Trafford last February.

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has opened up on past mistakes at Old Trafford[/caption]

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Former CEO Ed Woodward comes in for criticism from the Ineos chief[/caption]

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Richard Arnold took over from Woodward but lasted just two years at Old Trafford[/caption]

United are currently languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League following another horror season.

Boss Ruben Amorim has been unable to improve results since taking over from Erik ten Hag in November.

Ratcliffe last week revealed the club, who have struggled since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure 12 years ago, was close to going bust “by Christmas this year” if he hadn’t injected £300million.

The 72-year-old Ineos chief claims he would step away if fans “abuse” him in a similar manner to the Glazers, who now stay clear of Old Trafford.

And he has now spoken out on who he believes is to blame for United’s current state, taking aim at former CEO’s Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold.

Ratcliffe told The Times: “I mean, I wouldn’t have tolerated Ed Woodward, or Richard Arnold.

“Richard was a rugby man, he didn’t even understand football. Ed didn’t have the credentials to manage the club.

“He was a merchant banker, an accountant. He wasn’t the chief executive.”

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Ratcliffe claims past management teams weren’t “into the details” and “left the football side alone”.

He continued:” The way I look at it is that you had two management teams at Manchester United for the past 12 years who did a poor job because the owners weren’t like, say, Steve Parish [Crystal Palace] and Daniel Levy [Tottenham Hotspur].

“They weren’t really into the details. Those two know what’s going on.

“They’re there every day and the management at their clubs are on a short leash.

“The management of Manchester United have been given a huge amount of rope.

“The owners just managed the club and left the football side alone and they’ve made a lot of very poor decisions over 12 years, stupid things.

“They made a complete cock-up of it, shocking really. They couldn’t see where they were headed.”

United fans protested against the ownership ahead of last week’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal.

But Ratcliffe claims he won’t stick around if he receives the same level of “abuse” aimed at the Glazer family.

He added: “If it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, look, enough’s enough guys, let somebody else do this.

“They can’t really come to a match, the Glazers.

“They’ve retreated into the shadows a bit now, so I’m getting all the bloody stick.

“We bought in and I haven’t seen them since.”