Glazers turn on Ratcliffe as United weigh Calvert-Lewin move ahead of Chelsea test

Manchester United head to Chelsea on Saturday with Michael Carrick clinging to his job after eight games without a win, and fresh reports of a boardroom rift between the Glazer family and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe deepening the sense of crisis at Old Trafford.

The Glazers, who remain majority shareholders, are said to be furious with how Ratcliffe has managed the club since assuming control of football operations following his £1.25 billion investment. Sources cited by the Mail describe the family as “disenchanted” with the direction of the club, with one contact close to the family saying: “It’s a travesty and not what they expected or were promised. They have never run the club this way.”

A separate source told ESPN that Ratcliffe’s sweeping cost-cutting measures — which affected multiple departments — ran directly counter to the strategy he had outlined, and that the Glazers believe he “couldn’t have masterminded a worse situation.”

On the pitch, Carrick survived last weekend despite a 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth, but the club’s hierarchy have made clear that patience is running thin. Saturday’s lunchtime fixture at Stamford Bridge, against an Xabi Alonso side that has lost to Tottenham and been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Liverpool on penalties, represents a significant opportunity — though also a genuine risk for a manager with so little margin for error.

Compounding Carrick’s difficulties is the extended absence of striker Benjamin Sesko, whose shin injury has proved far more serious than initially feared. The Slovenia international is now not expected to feature until the new year, leaving Bryan Mbeumo deployed out of position as a makeshift centre-forward, with Joshua Zirkzee yet to earn the manager’s trust in that role.

With the January transfer window approaching, United are exploring their options in attack. According to The Athletic, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has emerged as one name under consideration — a move that would be complicated by the fierce rivalry between United and the striker’s current club Leeds, as well as by Calvert-Lewin’s own form. The 27-year-old has rediscovered his best under Daniel Farke and is central to Leeds’ promotion push, making it difficult to envisage either club or player agreeing to the deal.