United are in FA Cup action tonight as they host Aston Villa
in the third round and Ralf Rangnick is hoping his side bounce back from a 1-0
defeat to Wolves last time out.
Since then, there have been widespread reports of several
players being unhappy at the club, both with his tactics and at a lack of
playing time.
This isn’t the first time supposed leaks about dressing room
unrest has got out with Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer battling similar
problems and Ferdinand feels United haven’t dealt with those kinds of incidents
in the past.
‘I think Man United’s biggest mistake they’ve made in recent
years is allowing certain players and people externally who are part of players’
circles and networks to disrespect the club publicly,’ the United legend said
on his YouTube channel.
‘They haven’t slammed the door shut in their face and really
put them people in the place they should be.
‘You can’t allow that because the minute you allow that
once, one step out of line, other players and people in their circles start
thinking “oh he got away with it, I’ll say my thing because there’s no
repercussions, my player isn’t going to come under any type of fire at the
club,” no.
‘You nail that person immediately and I don’t understand…
that’s the mistake hierarchy at the football club in recent years have done
poorly.
‘They’ve let stuff slide too much. They’ve got to be drilled
those people.’
Several players could be on their way out this month with
the likes of Anthony Martial looking for an exit and Donny van de Beek
considering his options.
However, Ferdinand believes the Dutch midfielder has every
right to push for an exit after struggling for game time but is still being
professional about the situation.
‘You’re going to have unhappy players, it’s part of the job
and management. You’re going to have to manage unhappy players because players
are going to be in that squad who aren’t playing,’ he added.
‘Donny van de Beek, I understand someone like him being
unhappy but from what I hear not a moaner, he gets on with it and isn’t going
to tell his agent to speak in the media or spill the beans so that he looks
like a certain type of character.
‘Jesse Lingard [too] they just want to play football.
‘But then you’ll have another type of player who understands
being on the peripheral of a squad, plays minimal games, accepts it and wants
to be there for that.
‘Then they’ll be players who are going to be bad eggs and
say that if I don’t play I’m going to make it uncomfortable for everybody.
‘I’m going to come in and change the atmosphere in the
dressing room, being a bit rude to people, not being punctual.
‘Those players, get out. You go to the manager and tell the
manager “get rid of that geezer, he’s a disgrace in our changing room, he’s
ruining it and he’s going to get beat up at some point.”‘