Over 100 employees at Manchester United will be made redundant in the latest chapter of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s ruthless cost-cutting measures.
Since Ratcliffe and his company INEOS forked out £1billion to acquire 27.7 per cent of United in February 2024, several controversial steps have been taken to reduce the club’s expenditure.
One of those was a brutal culling of staff, with 250 employees across all departments axed in the summer.
A second round of redundancies is now set to take place and reports claim all departments are at risk of losing staff yet again.
talkSPORT has contacted the club for comment.
The brutal call to part with a significant amount of staff follows Ratcliffe’s claim to the United We Stand fanzine in December that ‘difficult decisions’ needed to be made for the club’s financial health.
“To get Manchester United to where we need to get it – it’s a bit like the country,” Ratcliffe said.
“We have to make some difficult and unpopular decisions.
“If you shy away from the difficult decisions then nothing much is going to change.”
Ratcliffe added: “There are financial issues which we need to address because we’ve inherited a financial situation that only time will solve.”
Outside of the redundancies, Ratcliffe made headlines for all the wrong reasons when it was revealed he would cut funding to the club’s charitable arm, the Manchester United Foundation.
Funding for the foundation, which works with local communities and underprivileged people, was almost £1m last year.
GettyRatcliffe’s measures to slash costs at United have rubbed many fans the wrong way[/caption]
Ratcliffe also oversaw the decision to end a yearly donation to the Association of Former Manchester United Players (AFMUP), a charity that supports players from an era where contracts were nowhere near as large as they are today.
The club donated £40,000 each year, but that will be no more.
In December, Ratcliffe was widely slammed for his decision to raise ticket prices at United by £26 as he claimed it ‘doesn’t make sense’ for their tickets to be cheaper than Fulham’s, despite the average home price in the London suburb to be nearly five times more than those around Old Trafford.
However, none of Ratcliffe’s decisions triggered former players quite like his call to axe legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson from his long-serving paid ambassadorial role with the club.
Ferguson received a £2.16m salary for the role, but Ratcliffe deemed it an expense United could do without as the club confirmed it reached an ‘amicable’ agreement with all parties moving forward.
Red Devils icon Eric Cantona was one of several ex-United voices to express their outrage on the matter.
“Sir Alex Ferguson should be able to do anything he wants at the club until the day he dies,” Cantona wrote on Instagram.
“Such a lack of respect. It’s totally scandalous. Sir Alex Ferguson will be my boss forever!
“And I throw them all in a big bag of s***!”
News of the imminent culling comes at a troubling time for Ratcliffe and INEOS after New Zealand Rugby announced it would sue the company over an alleged breach of sponsorship agreement.
The Kiwis accused INEOS of refusing to pay an instalment on a six-year deal, believed to be worth around £3.5m per year.
INEOS have since responded with a statement of their own, claiming ‘cost-saving measures across the business’ prompted them to seek a change to their agreement with New Zealand Rugby.
“INEOS has greatly valued our sponsorship of New Zealand Rugby, having contributed over $30m (£24m) to the teams in recent years,” the statement read.
“However, trading conditions for our European businesses have been severely impacted by high energy costs and extreme carbon taxes, along with much of the chemicals industry in Europe, which is struggling or shutting down. We are witnessing the deindustrialisation of Europe.
“As a result, we have had to implement cost-saving measures across the business. We sought to reach a sensible agreement with the All Blacks to adjust our sponsorship in light of these challenges.”
INEOS added they remain in discussion with New Zealand Rugby.