Shocking Manchester United situation, Ratcliffe, owner of Manchester United who brought out another redundancy card, is expected to cut up to 200 more jobs

Feb 13, 2025

UK media The Sun article capture

'If you don't cut costs, Manchester United can fail.'

Manchester United, a prestigious club in the English Premier League tradition that was once considered the world's highest value, is now in a position to worry about 'bankruptcy'. Ineos Chairman Jim Ratliff himself stated the crisis. In order to escape this crisis, owner Ratcliffe is likely to bring up the sword of 'redevelopment' again.

The Sun, a British media outlet, said on the 13th (Korean time) 'Ratcliffe, the owner of Manchester United, is expressing concern that the club could go bankrupt without cost-cutting measures that may not be well received by Ineos' chairman. According to The Sun, owner Ratcliffe will lay off an additional 100 to 200 of Manchester United's employees.

The move is due to a sense of crisis that Manchester United is in a serious financial crisis. Chairman Ratcliffe Ineos paid 1 billion pounds (about 1.81 trillion won) to acquire a 27.7% stake in Manchester United last year. Since then, Chairman Ratcliffe has immediately implemented a tight fiscal policy. In July last year alone, it laid off 250 people, or 21.7% of its 1,150 employees.

UK media The Sun article capture

It also cut the salaries of the club's promoters, including Sir Alex Ferguson, the team's legendary manager, or notified them of the dismissal of the ambassador position. The move drew strong opposition from Manchester United fans. Ratcliffe, however, was adamant. According to the Guardian, Chairman Ratcliffe insisted these measures were inevitable, saying there was little choice but to cut costs substantially across the club.

Through this, Manchester United, which has recorded a deficit of 300 million pounds (about 543 billion won) over the past three years, is confident that it can turn its financial situation around in two seasons.

In fact, Manchester United is believed to have barely escaped the serious financial crisis thanks to Chairman Ratcliffe. A Manchester United insider told the Guardian that `If Chairman Ratcliffe had not invested £240 million last year, Manchester United's cash flow would have run out.' Chairman Ratcliffe plans to continue his cost-cutting policy even though he knows he is not well received by Manchester United fans.

The post-restructuring step for club employees is the sale of players. The majority of Manchester United's players could be on the market this summer. The Sun anticipated 'Manchester United would sell stars like Marcus Rashford and Kobe Mainu before investments in the team were made to circumvent PSR rules.

Ratcliffe's ultimate goal is to build a new stadium to replace Old Trafford. Currently, there is a plan to build a new 100,000-seat stadium called Wembley in the north on the site of the home stadium. It's not definitive yet. Manchester United are mulling over reinvestment to remodel Old Trafford and the construction of a new stadium. A decision is expected before summer.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.