Sir Jim Ratcliffe set to spend £10m to terminate dozens of Manchester United deals

Sir Jim Ratcliffe set to spend £10m to terminate dozens of Manchester United deals

 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has stirred things up at Man United, leaving barely any department across the club untouched.

 

 

As yet, Erik ten Hag is one of the only senior figures to have escaped being ousted since Ratcliffe spent £1.25bn to acquire 27.7 per cent of the club in February.

 

The Dutchman has the public backing of the Ratcliffe-led regime, although there are understood to be private concerns about the club’s direction under him.

 

(L-R) Ineos Head of Sport Sir David Brailsford, Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada, Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth and Manchester…

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Whatever the outcome, the decision will be made Ratcliffe‘s war room, which is packed to the rafters with new appointees.

 

 

Among the INEOS billionaire’s hires are CEO Omar Berrada and director Jean-Claude Blanc on the executive side, while Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox have joined as sporting and technical directors.

 

However, it is not only in the most senior positions that Ratcliffe’s influence has been felt.

 

Staff purge to cost Man United £10m

On one of his first visits to United’s headquarters, Ratcliffe signalled that he was uninspired with how the club was operating as a business.

 

It quickly emerged that sections of United’s wider administrative staff would be offered redundancy if they were not willing to swap their hybrid working structure for a fully on-site arrangement.

 

 

In perhaps the most controversial episode of his reign so far, Ratcliffe has since followed through on this threat in what was diplomatically described as a “rationalization of the club’s employee base.”

 

That streamlining was part of a company-wide programme that saw approximately 250 jobs axed, with few areas of the club spared.

 

Now, in official figures taken from Man United’s Q4 results for 2023-24 released today, the expected cost of the mass redundancies has been revealed.

 

 

 

‘Exceptional costs related to severance charges associated with the headcount reduction program are expected to total approximately £10 million,’ reads an excerpt from the report.

 

Ratcliffe has made sweeping changes in the name of efficiency, including implementing a new bonus-focused approach to player contracts, but this £10m campaign remains the most divisive.

 

Man United’s Q4 results in detail

The headline figures for the fourth quarter of 2023-24, when United recorded their worst ever Premier League finish, are an annual net loss of £113m and revenue of £662m.

 

The turnover figure was lower than some projections, but it is a club-record nonetheless.

 

Commercial and matchday income also reached new heights of £303m and £137m respectively.

 

The matchday income vertical in particular is impressive given that United played seven fewer games at Old Trafford in 2023-24 than they did the previous season.

 

The £113m loss is concerning, although a £40m chunk of that figure can be attributed to costs associated with Ratcliffe’s part-takeover.

 

A general view of the Carrington Training Ground prior to the Premier League 2 match between Manchester United U21 and Newcastle United U21 on Dece…

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EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a standard many analysts use as a more accurate method of evaluating business performance than profit-loss, was £148m.

 

That was a £7m decrease on the previous year.

 

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