Inside Man United’s very own civil war: Current stars embroiled in public spats with club legends, fans clash with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Jadon Sancho mocks club by suggesting Marcus Rashford is now ‘free’ despite still being on payroll

Tensions are only intensifying around Manchester United these days, whether it be players privately debating the merits of Ruben Amorim’s system or staff fearing more cuts as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos wield the axe.

Players are taking on criticism from pundits, fans are protesting against price rises such as ticketing, while social media has whipped up a storm or two for innocuous comments left on sites such as Instagram.

All of this is only magnified further by the fact that on the pitch United continue to struggle, slumped 13th in the Premier League table with a -6 goal difference ahead of the weekend trip to take on Tottenham Hotspur.

Amorim’s team remain in the Europa League and FA Cup but this season has been full of trying times on and off the pitch. 

Mail Sport’s NATHAN SALT takes a look at some of the key battlegrounds in recent months….

Scholes vs Martinez

One battle brewing recently has been Lisandro Martinez clapping back at United great Paul Scholes.

Scholes pulled no punches when it came to the state of Manchester United’s backline – and particularly on Martinez and his ability to be part of a Premier League-winning rearguard.

‘Even when he’s fit he’s not good enough to win the Premier League with,’ Scholes said on The Overlap on Sky Sports.

In response to Scholes, Martínez swiped on social media: ‘This jinx guy is really hurting….You put him in Argentina, and he wouldn’t survive.’

Scholes has previously been quite complimentary of Martinez but is beginning to change his tune, much to the annoyance of the Argentine.

Martinez is currently out for the remainder of the season and will undergo surgery on his knee, as revealed by our Man United Confidential column, but he is refusing to look the other way when it comes to criticism from club legends.

Scholes is convinced that the only way out of United’s malaise is yet more spending – despite the fact they plundered £600m under Ruben Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag.

‘I think a new goalkeeper is needed, possibly two centre halves, two centre midfield players, and two centre forwards,’ Scholes said.

Sancho vs the club

This one came to a head this week and has particularly irked many in the fan-base after he made a ‘freedom’ comment following Marcus Rashford’s debut on loan at Aston Villa.

Sancho himself is currently owned by Manchester United and out on loan at Chelsea. United still pay in the region of £50,000 of his weekly wage and his tone deaf comment ignited fireworks of fury.

United supporters were quick to hit back at the suggestion that the two players were somehow imprisoned at Old Trafford, and sources close to Rashford have indicated that he doesn’t appreciate being dragged into his former United and England team-mate’s apparent beef with the club.

Sancho’s relationship with United has felt over for some time and this latest move has only further underlined the disconnect between player, fans and club.

Chelsea will trigger an obligation to buy Sancho in the summer and it will finally bring to an end the Englishman’s miserable time at Old Trafford, where he publicly took on former boss Erik ten Hag and ended up eating and training alone as relations soured.

Amorim vs Rashford

This one threatened to become quite ugly had United not managed to find a resolution in the January transfer window.

Amorim had not played Rashford for the last 13 games before he sealed a loan move to Aston Villa.

He even went so far as to say he would rather pick his 63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital than the England international due to concerns over his attitude to training.

‘I couldn’t get Marcus to see the way you’re supposed to play football and to train the way I see it,’ came Amorim’s damning verdict after the loan move was sealed.

It was of paramount importance that a new home was found for Rashford during the January window to prevent a cloud hanging over player and manager for the remainder of the campaign.

Amorim has since rubbished the idea that it will be ‘humiliating’ or ’embarrassing’ for him should Rashford go on a goalscoring tear at Villa Park.

And in truth both parties needed time apart from the other as Rashford was out in the cold and a non-factor under Amorim.

Ratcliffe vs fans

Fans have not been shy to voice their discontent towards Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos ownership group.

Away at Fulham, a match which he attended, abusive chants were aimed in his direction by the away fans, while he was confronted at his car window by a group of angry fans after the match, too.

Ratcliffe took over day-to-day running of United from the Glazers after he acquired a 28.94 per cent stake in the club.

Since then he has made a number of financial decisions that has irked the fan-base, namely when United announced the mid-season introduction of a flat rate £66 ticket for members, with no concessions for children or pensioners and no prior consultation.

‘Just like the Glazers, Jim Ratcliffe’s a c**t,’ came the chants at Fulham.

In the video that surfaced on social media of fans confronting Ratcliffe directly, it can be heard ‘We’re Northerners, come on mate – sort it out,’ one fan said.

‘Sixty-six quid you b*****d. F**k you Jim Ratcliffe. F**k you.’

‘Worse than the Glazers, mate,’ came another response from another fan.

Ratcliffe has shown he is not afraid to make uncomfortable and unpopular decisions but fans are becoming increasingly vocal, particularly around the issues of ticketing.

Back in December, Ratcliffe caused outrage among fans following an interview he gave with the United We Stand fanzine.

In it the Ineos chief plainly stated that Manchester United’s fans should not be paying less for tickets than Fulham fans.

By way of response, the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) wrote a strongly worded open letter to Ratcliffe.

‘Now is the worst possible time’ to raise ticket prices ‘with performances on the field amongst the worst in decades.’

‘A price increase or significant ticketing policy changes would land very badly with fans at this time,’ MUST said in their letter.

‘Negative sentiment comes with financial costs, as discontent escalates into active protests and disillusionment.

‘This discontent could lead to outright rebellion, with consequences not just for match-day revenues but also for sponsor relations and the club’s global brand. Sponsors depend on a passionate and engaged fanbase.

‘Alienating supporters risks damaging these critical partnerships. Discontent also reduces fans’ discretionary spend too.’

Ratcliffe vs club staff

One of the most fraught clashes here is Ratcliffe and his vicious cost-cutting across Manchester United.

Once they assumed day to day control, one of the first things Ineos and Ratcliffe looked to do was drastically reduce the size of the workforce. As a result they made 250 redundancies – a quarter of the workforce.

Now, as exclusively revealed by Mail Sport, Ratcliffe and Ineos are now planning on making more than 100 further redundancies at United.

The move is aimed at freeing up cash for Ruben Amorim to spend on the first team as they seek to return the club to its former glories. Despite record revenues, United have lost £300m in the past three years.

Morale around United has been decimated since the Ratcliffe and Ineos arrival and it came to a head over the festive period when the annual £100 staff bonus was scrapped and replaced by a £40 M&S voucher.

Staff have been left in the dark about the latest planned cuts with many seeking updates from journalists to see if their jobs are safe or not.

On Wednesday it emerged in the Times that popular long-serving head of team operations Jackie Kay, who has been at United for nearly 30 years, is to leave the club. 

Ratcliffe vs Ashworth

One job which quickly became clear would not be safe for long was that of former sporting director Dan Ashworth.

The former FA guru was axed after just 159 days at Manchester United, with Ratcliffe central to pulling the plug.

Ratcliffe had previously called Ashworth a ’10/10 sporting director’ but it did not take long for murmurings of discontent to surface.

Mail Sport understands there were concerns that Ashworth, who was based at the club’s Carrington training base, wasn’t making enough cuts to the football department as part of a wide-ranging economy drive by Ineos.

There are also claims that he was not totally behind the recent appointment of Ruben Amorim as new head coach, preferring an Englishman such as Gareth Southgate or Graham Potter.

In Sami Mokbel’s column, it was outlined that sources with knowledge of the situation viewed Ashworth as being too indecisive, particularly with regards a definitive plan regarding previous manager Erik ten Hag’s future and the Dutchman’s potential successor. That, it was said, did not impress Ineos chief Ratcliffe.

The fans vs Zirkzee

This one came to a head when some supporters jeered off a visibly emotional Joshua Zirkzee after just 33 minutes in the home defeat to Newcastle United.

It has been a tough start to life at Manchester United for the former Bayern Munich and Bologna attacker. 

But he deserves credit for turning things around in recent weeks since that Newcastle humiliation.

The general sentiment among the match-going crowd is that they are with Zirkzee and rooting for him to do well. 

It was Zirkzee who scored thee equalising goal against Leicester City in the FA Cup before Harry Maguire went on to head in a stoppage-time winner.