Sir Jim Ratcliffe has branded Manchester United “mediocre” as he doubles down on his plan to raise the club's standard.
The INEOS owner became a minority shareholder in the Premier League giants earlier this year and has set out to renovate numerous different areas of the club, including Old Trafford, ticket price and of course, his performances on the field.
While Ruben AmorimThe start of his life as United manager has been brilliant: two wins, a draw and a defeat against Arsenal In four games, there is still a long way to go.
The Red Devils are currently in a mid-table position and a long way from challenging for the top four or rekindling their title-winning heyday.
To once again dominate national and European football as it was under Sir Alex FergusonRatcliffe did not hesitate to assess what had to happen.
Speaking to United We Stand, he said: “To get manchester united as far as we need to go: it's a bit like the countryside.
“We have to make some difficult and unpopular decisions. If you avoid difficult decisions, nothing much will change.
“We won't do everything right and it won't happen overnight, but we haven't been sitting on our hands for nine months. There have been a lot of changes. Here in Carrington, as you can see.
“We wasted no time to include Old Trafford on the agenda. Changes in football and in the executive structure. New players. Rubén (Amorim) has arrived.
“We still have a long way to go and we still have a number of difficult decisions to make, but we have to do it for the better. The club has been adrift for a long period of time, about a decade.
“Manchester United have become mediocre. They are not elite and they are supposed to be one of the best football clubs in the world. That's what it was with Alex.
“There is a major change coming to achieve elite status. There has already been a huge change.”
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A big topic of frustration has been the club's efforts in the transfer market, something Ratcliffe did not hesitate to address.
“We haven't been good enough at recruiting, they're probably okay with that,” says Ratcliffe.
“And until we are as good as anyone in the world, then it won't be good enough for Manchester United.
“We must have the best hiring in the world. Data analysis goes hand in hand with hiring. It doesn't really exist here. When it comes to data analysis, we are still in the last century.
“There is an immense amount of useful data that we can obtain from data analysis and here we are in the 'very poor' group in data analysis. These things don't happen overnight. You can't just flip a light switch and order recruitment. It's about people and we need to find the right people.
“The other big problem is that we need to manage the club well and efficiently. We need to sweat every kilo to have more investment capacity in players. Those are the big-ticket items that consume time.
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“The other point here is how to increase the amount of money you can spend on players. You can run the business more efficiently. And you can grow the top line.”
Ratcliffe then added: “I don't enjoy losing.
“That seems very difficult to me. I quite like him Photo of Pep Guardiola (with marks on his head). He doesn't like to lose.
“Our results haven't been fantastic and I don't like where we are in the league. I like the challenge. It is one of the biggest challenges in the sporting world, to get United back to where the club should be.
“It's a very rewarding challenge if we get there, but it's a rocky road with ups and downs.”
