Rio Ferdinand slams the Glazers’ ‘disgraceful’ handling of Manchester United and claims Erik ten Hag is attempting to manage a ‘fragile changing room’ amid their poor start to the season

Rio Ferdinand has scathingly described the actions of Manchester United owners the Glazer family as “shameful” and placed the blame for recent poor results on their lack of communication.

United were dismantled by Brighton in a crushing 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford on Saturday as Roberto de Zerbi’s side dominated and claimed a deserved three points.

Pressure is beginning to mount on Erik ten Hag as their early season struggles continue, with United losing three out of five Premier League matches and facing the daunting prospect of traveling to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Former United defender Ferdinand believes radical changes are needed across the club and has criticized the club’s owners for their lack of action.

“I don’t think any fan who watches football, not just Man United, but watches football and sees what Brighton can do and sees Man United, walked into this stadium this weekend and thought United would get three points,” Ferdinand said on his Five YouTube channels.

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‘No chance. It’s crazy. People are looking for a scapegoat, that’s how the media works at the moment, people are looking for a scapegoat and leaving, that’s why.

“I see people saying that (Marcus) Rashford doesn’t work hard enough or that Bruno (Fernandes) is the captain. Ralf Rangnick’s comments upon his departure were along the lines of: there is no need for medication, but rather open heart surgery.

“No one looked at that comment and thought ‘let me explore this further’. It shows you that no one individual is going to solve this problem. We had Cristiano Ronaldo, what he did in the game, and he can’t solve it.

“We’ve had a lot of managers with huge reputations and they haven’t fixed the problem. I spent a lot of money and it didn’t fix the problem. We’ve been juggling the pack behind the scenes with recruiting teams, structure and personnel and it’s not going to change anything.

“It takes a unified approach to make this happen. One of the biggest issues is ownership.

United’s controversial owners announced a strategic review last November, which included the possibility of a full sale.

A bidding war then broke out between Qatari billionaire Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, but the Glazers are now said to be reluctant to sell and would prefer to wait to try to increase the club’s value. Both bidders were informed, however, that there would be no changes to the process.

Ferdinand, like many Man United supporters, wants an immediate sale of the club and has slammed the Americans – who were last seen in United’s FA Cup final defeat to Man City – for their lack of communication which , according to him, is at the origin of the current problems.

“These owners, the Glazers, I don’t care what they say anymore. Since June we haven’t heard from them and even then it was lukewarm. Communication in any line of work, in any business, is vital for a business to thrive, thrive, function properly and their lack of communication is deafening,” Ferdinand said.

“It was shameful in my eyes. It’s a fragile locker room, it’s fragile infrastructure, and there are new people coming in and out… these owners are not communicating to help that.

“We need communication more than ever and they’re not getting it. That’s where my anger and frustration comes from.”

“Surely they like it?” Surely they love the club? But I’m led to believe that no, it’s just business, heartless. Silence says so, so much. That says a lot.