Manchester United ‘terminate Sir Alex Ferguson contract’ after Sir Jim Ratcliffe decision

Manchester United’s latest cost-cutting measures have seen part-owners INEOS end multi-million pound payments to Sir Alex Ferguson for his ambassadorial role at Old Trafford.

After retiring in 2013 following 26 years as United manager, Ferguson was kept on with an annual salary as a global club ambassador and club director.

The club’s 2014 accounts showed he received £2.16million for his ambassadorial role, in a commitment which the club continued for more than a decade.

But INEOS have been poring over the club’s finances as a cost-cutting exercise in recent weeks, and The Athletic say “that led it to zoom in on the club’s commitment to Ferguson”.

INEOS founder and CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe informed Ferguson of the decision in a face-to-face meeting with the 82-year-old at Old Trafford.

While key decisions are made by the club’s official board, Ferguson has remained a director on United’s largely ceremonial ‘football board’ since retiring. The late Sir Bobby Charlton, former chief executive David Gill and non-executive director Michael Edelson were also previously members.

Ferguson has regularly been seen sat in the directors’ box watching United since he retired in 2013. Ferguson will stay a non-executive director and remains welcome to attend games after INEOS’s decision to terminate his salary at the end of this season.

Ratcliffe has set about cutting costs at the club since purchasing his 27.7 per cent stake in United in February. Other former players currently in paid roles at United are reportedly concerned about their own futures in light of the scaling back of club expenditures.