Golf superstar Rory McIlroy believes that Manchester United will continue to struggle while the Glazers own the club.
The Glazers have owned United for almost two decades and since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson they have won neither the Champions League nor the Premier League. David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick have come and gone with only Mourinho briefly threatening to build a successful team before he was sacked.
Erik ten Hag is the current manager but things have followed a familiar pattern with the Dutchman, as a promising first season was quickly derailed in the second campaign, with underperforming players, crowd unhappiness, and reports of dressing room compaints.
In recent weeks, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has arrived as a co-owner with around a quarter of the club’s shares, and he has taken over the football side of the club. However, McIlroy told Sky Bet that he sees little room for improvement until the Glazers are forced out entirely.
He said: “I think it’s sad what’s happened at Manchester United with the owners as it’s got to the point where you’ve got the Glazers who can’t even go to their own club and watch games, because the fans are just so disillusioned with what’s going on.
“I grew up watching Manchester United in the 1990s and early 2000s, and even this David Beckham documentary a few weeks ago, it just reminds you of how good football was, and the good times.
“What we’ve been going through basically since Sir Alex Ferguson left – for my generation of Man United fans, we’re just not used to it. I just think the club has this sort of toxic culture that I don’t think will be able to be broken until the owners go. It’s maybe not as hard a thing to say for some people, but it’s sad that people have come in, owned a football club and they’ve spent quite a bit of money – they’ve taken a lot of money out too.”