Manchester United end Sir Alex Ferguson's £2million-a-year contract after brutal Ineos call

Sir Alex Ferguson will step down from his ambassadorial role at Manchester United

Manchester United part-owners Ineos have reportedly ended a multi-million pound ambassadorial contract with Sir Alex Ferguson. The legendary Scot, 82, who stepped down after 26 years at the helm in 2013, had signed an agreement to become a global ambassador for the club soon after his departure.

According to The Athletic, this agreement, believed to be worth over £2million-a-year and in place since October 2013, has now been ended by Ineos. The report suggests that Ferguson was informed in a face-to-face meeting with Sir Jim Ratcliffe that the club were looking to cut costs and could no longer afford to continue paying him beyond this season.

It's understood from sources that the meeting was friendly and there is no issue between the club and Ferguson, who remains a non-executive director. Ratcliffe, who bought a minority stake in his childhood club last December, has implemented numerous off-field changes, including restructuring the club's backroom staff and making several redundancies after announcing plans to lay off 250 staff members.

Despite these cost-cutting measures, the club were the second-highest spenders among Premier League clubs in the recent summer transfer window, committing over £200million on transfers in an effort to revamp manager Erik ten Hag's squad. Ratcliffe has previously spoken highly of Ferguson, who is the most successful manager in the club's history, having won 38 trophies during his illustrious tenure at Old Trafford.

Recalling a meeting with Sir Alex in February, Ratcliffe said: "He was the first person I met when I went up there which I think was the second week of January and I had a meeting from 9am to 10am at his house and I left at 1pm. He never stopped. He's got a lot of experience, a lot of stories to tell and a lot of thoughts about the club.", reports the Mirror.

Ratcliffe added that despite not being actively involved with Manchester United, Ferguson remains passionate about the club. "I don't think he has been encouraged to get involved but he is still very thoughtful about the club and he has an immense amount of experience. He really understands the values and traditions of the club and what it's all about. He's still fiercely competitive, Alex Ferguson."