EXCLUSIVEMan United set to ban staff from eating at the players' canteen at Carrington in a move at odds with Sir Alex Ferguson's ethos... as INEOS look to create an elite performance environment

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Manchester United are set to boot staff out of the main canteen at the club’s training ground.

Mail Sport understands that, as part of the ongoing overhaul under Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS group, those who do not directly work with the first team will no longer be able to dine with them.

Instead, following summer refurbishment work, they are expected to head to a separate area for lunch and will not be able to feast on the ‘high performance food’ enjoyed by the club’s stars.

Critics believe the move will further isolate United’s players from the club’s rank and file. However, some within Old Trafford have backed the switch, believing that some latch on to the players and are an unwanted distraction.

Last month, we revealed how the club’s laundry team were to move into a separate building, with INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, of marginal gains repute, key to the plans. It is understood this move follows on and is again aimed at creating an elite environment for the first team squad with the focus on performance.

Manchester United are set to boot staff out of the main canteen at the club’s training ground

New part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team are undergoing major changes at United

One insider joked: ‘Some of the staff are thinking about asking Marcus Rashford if he can get them to change their minds.’ Rashford famously triggered a government u-turn on providing free school dinners during the holidays.

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The move would appear directly at odds with the egalitarian rule of Sir Alex Ferguson, who ensured all of those who worked at the training ground, from Cristiano Ronaldo to the tea ladies, broke bread together.

Indeed, Ferguson wrote of the importance of the sharing the canteen, a move he made shortly after he took control in 1986. ‘I wanted to form a personal link with everybody around the place,’ he noted in his autobiography Managing My Life, ‘not just the players, the coaches and the backroom staff but the office workers, the cooks and servers in the canteen and the laundry ladies. All had to believe that they were part of the club and that a resurgence was coming’.

In a later book, Leading, Ferguson added: ‘I wanted the younger players to be able to mingle and eat lunch with the staff too, including people like the laundry team and groundsmen… I’d been influenced by what I had learned from Marks & Spencer which, decades ago in harder times, had given their staff free lunches because so many of them were skipping lunch so they could save every penny to help their families.

Manchester United are set to carry out a major overhaul of their training ground this summer

One insider joked about potentially asking Marcus Rashford to launch a campaign against the new rule, having famously triggered a government u-turn for providing free school dinners

Erik ten Hag steered Manchester United to FA Cup glory against Man City earlier this month

'It probably seems a strange thing for a manager to be getting involved in – the layout of a canteen at a new training ground – but when I think about the tone it set within the club and the way it encouraged the staff and players to interact I can’t overstate the importance of this tiny change.’

Under INEOS, United’s performance on the field is paramount. Brailsford’s revamp of Carrington will see substantial work carried out, with a new ‘pre-activation and player performance’ zone at the heart of plans.

United have suffered horrendously with injuries for some time and the hope is that the new warm-up area will help lower the risks of players picking up costly knocks.

The switch is likely to also act as a cost-saving measure, although affected staff will continue to have access to healthy meals.