Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that some of Manchester United current crop are not up to the right standard, and "a good few" have to go in the summer, according to Ferguson's friend, the legendary jockey Ruby Walsh.
Ferguson has watched his successor David Moyes endure a nightmare first season in charge at Old Trafford, with the club languishing in seventh place with 26 points fewer than they had at this stage last season and no chance of retaining their Premier League title. The were also knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round, out of the League Cup in the semi-final and will face the German champions Bayern Munich in the next round of the Champions League next week.
United fan Walsh claimed that he had a conversation with Ferguson at the Cheltenham Festival earlier this month, where Ferguson told him that "a good few players had to go" in order for the club to progress.
"I met Alex Ferguson in the changing room on the Friday at Cheltenham before racing and I asked him what was going on and he was telling me about buying this fella and he bought the wrong fella and I said to him that I told you five years ago you had to sell Nani and you wouldn't.
Manchester United 2013/14 - a season of new lows
Show all 11"A lot of the players are the players [Moyes] inherited from you and he said 'Yeah, a good few of them have to go but it all depends on what shopping he does in the summer'.
"To be fair to David Moyes, who wanted the job from Alex Ferguson. You’re on a hiding to nothing. How are you going to make it better, you're not."
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