Graeme Souness has called out Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the owners of Man Utd for their ‘disgrace’ over a decision to end annual £2million payments to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been ruthless – except when it comes to actually important football issues such as an underperforming manager – since buying a 27.7% minority stake in the Premier League giants at the start of this year.

In recent months, Ratcliffe has overseen a cost-cutting program as mass redundancies have taken place at Old Trafford.

These measures have recently affected legendary former manager Ferguson. This was announced earlier this week INEOS has decided to end a multi-million pound commitment to the Scot.

Since retiring in 2023, Ferguson has been Man Utd’s global ambassador and club director. For this he received ‘£2.16 million for his services’.

But those payments will no longer be made and Ferguson’s role has changed to that of a non-executive director.

Souness, who faced Ferguson 20 times as a coach, rejected the decision in his column in the Daily Mail.

‘What a shame. Where the hell is the respect?’ he wrote. “I have to tell these owners that they have embarrassed themselves.

‘The sum of money he received may have been significant, but is his role really one that the bean counters had to look at for their cost savings?

‘United are a cash cow that generates huge amounts of money, even when they are in the doldrums, as they are now.

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‘Their last reported annual turnover was £661.8 million. The annual £2 million they save by no longer using Fergie is a drop in the ocean. For me, this decision is proof that the people running the club now simply don’t understand how football works, how Man Utd works and how supporters view that institution.

‘Based on what we’ve seen so far, the players they signed this summer – Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui – won’t let United challenge for the big trophies. We did not see the fifth, Leny Yoro, because he was injured prior to the season.

‘On Saturday afternoon the club will take on Brentford, one of the minnows who are three places above them. Even this match is very dangerous for the current United team.

“One last thought for the bean counters. Man Utd are currently valued at £4.96 billion. How much of that is down to what Fergie has done for the club over the last 27 years?”

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