Ferdinand Responds After Lineker Suggests Ferguson is at Fault for Man Utd's Demise

Rio Ferdinand has reacted to Gary Lineker, a former England striker who is now a commentator, who said Sir Alex Ferguson is to blame for Manchester United’s decline after 2013. Instead, the former defender denounced the inadequate hiring.

Their current league position, 14th with 11 games remaining, is the ideal representation of how far the once-brilliant club has plummeted since the Scot left, and they are on course for their worst-ever Premier League ending under Ruben Amorim’s leadership.

Ferguson is considered one of the greatest football managers of all time due to his large trophy cabinet, and his departure at the end of the 2012–13 season matched Manchester United’s decline in popularity.

Additionally, Lineker, a former striker for Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur, feels that Ferguson is to blame for Manchester United’s precipitous drop. He cited Liverpool’s smooth switch from Jurgen Klopp to Arne Slot, saying:

“If you look at Liverpool right now, they have Arne Slot as their new manager, which is evidence of how well Jurgen Klopp left the team. Thus, the structure is excellent. At the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s [time at Old Trafford], it most likely wasn’t the case.

Lineker, who is widely considered to be among the best British football players of the 20th century, went on to insist that many of the “great players” in Ferguson’s final roster were nearing the end of their careers:

Even though they were the league winners that year, they weren’t the best team, and several of their finest players were nearing the end of their careers. I believe they had issues after that. Players were not coming from the academy as frequently as they used to.

In an effort to refute Lineker’s assertion that Ferguson’s departure was the catalyst for the club’s demise, Ferdinand took to X (previously Twitter) to defend his former manager, under whom he played 432 games between 2002–03 and 2012–13. In response to Jason Cundy of talkSPORT, who agreed with Lineker, he stated:

The squad Sir Alex left had an average age of 26.6 years. combination of expertise and young. Our players who attacked were He began his three-part rejoinder by writing, “Rooney (27), RVP (29), Chicharito (25), Welbeck (22), Zaha (20), Nani (26), Ashley Young (27), Lingard (20), Kagawa (24), Valencia (27), Januzaj (18).”

"I Totally Agree With him!" 😱

"The Squad Was Terrible!" 😡

Jason Cundy agreed with Gary Lineker's claim that Sir Alex Ferguson is to blame for Man Utd's downfall pic.twitter.com/oDYmT0foY4

— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) March 3, 2025

In his subsequent piece, he also claimed that David Moyes’s Manchester United team was in good form at the time of his departure after 1500 games in command. However, he went on to blame the team’s terrible hiring practices.

PS: We were 11 points ahead in the league. The hiring process has been subpar ever since. But I’ve come to the conclusion that the boss is to blame for the past few days. What a bunch of bullshit.

Ferdinand shared a chart showing the clubs in Europe that have spent the most money on transfer fees since the 2014–15 campaign. With a net spend of £1.27 billion over the past ten years, the Red Devils naturally jump to the top of the list.