Souness slams Man Utd pair for ‘lowest point in history’ as INEOS ‘cut Ten Hag’s legs off’

Graeme Souness has hit out at two Manchester United directors for their contribution to leading the Red Devils to “their lowest point” and has sympathy for Erik ten Hag after INEOS “cut his legs off”.

The Dutchman was relieved of his duties on Monday after United’s fourth defeat in eight Premier League games left them 14th in the top flight.

United endured their worst ever Premier League season in 2023/2024, with Ten Hag saving his own skin by masterminding an unlikely victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup final.

He was handed a contract extension before being shown the door three months later, with United reaching an agreement with Sporting Lisbon to hire Ruben Amorim as his replacement, though the Portuguese boss won’t be in situ for a while yet.

Souness reckons Amorim has a “very difficult job” on his hands after the new United directors Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox bungled their first summer with their hands on the transfer tiller.

“I think it’s a monster job to take on Manchester United at the moment. Even if Pep Guardiola or Alex Ferguson were to walk in there, it’d be a very difficult job,” Souness said on Three Up Front, William Hill’s podcast.

“I think the club are at their lowest point in the history of the Premier League, with the lowest quality group of players they’ve had in that time.

“I look at Manchester United since INEOS came in and it’s screaming out to me that they don’t really get football. They’ve now got their so-called footballing people in charge, in Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox, and I can’t believe for a minute that they didn’t have an input on the players they signed in the summer.

“They brought in Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, and Joshua Zirkzee. If they think those players are good enough for United, they’re wrong. They’ve still allowed £200 million to be spent on players like that. They’ve had one summer at the club and look what they’ve done with it! That has to fall at Dan Ashworth’s door.

“Ruben Amorim’s job now is to get the best out of this group of players, in whatever system that may be. He is walking into what is a very difficult job.”

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Souness also hit out at INEOS for the way in which they publicly approached other managers in the summer, metaphorically ‘cutting Ten Hag’s legs off’.

“Where they went really wrong was during the off-season,” Souness added. “It was public knowledge that they were out looking for and interviewing a new manager. Did they have any thought about what that was going to do for Erik ten Hag’s position in the dressing room? They cut his legs off. Then they turned around, maybe feeling guilty about speaking to several other managers, and gave him another year’s contract.

“As a player I would be thinking, ‘he’s not going to be here for very long’.”