Ratcliffe’s Man Utd plans rocked by Newcastle’s Champions League exit

Robin Bairner

• 14 Dec 2023 06:45 GMT
• 4 min read

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plans at Manchester United took a blow on Wednesday evening thanks to Newcastle’s exit from the Champions League, with the Old Trafford outfit collateral damage of that loss.

Eddie Howe’s side would have progressed with a home victory over Milan as PSG were held away to Borussia Dortmund, but despite taking the lead through Joelinton in the first half, they suffered a 2-1 defeat as Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze turned the match in the second period.

Although this clearly has little direct impact on Man Utd’s season, it does shatter any claims that exiting Europe entirely was a positive thing for Erik ten Hag’s side.

That claim was based around the assumption that the Red Devils will perform better with a lighter calendar, yet reaching the Europa League would have provided them with a potential pathway to the Champions League that it looks increasingly unlikely the league will.

As well as the obvious blow to the attractiveness of Man Utd as a destination for players missing out on the Champions League causes, there are Financial Fair Play (FFP) implications that will sting the club as a result. This offers an additional hurdle to success for incoming minority owner Ratcliffe, whose buyout has been dragging on for weeks.

Premier League set to miss out on bonus UCL spot

Man Utd are six points off the top four, yet there was a chance – an expectation even - that the Premier League could have sent its top five clubs into the Champions League next season as a change of format to the Swiss model offers the two best-performing countries this term bonus places in the competition.

With Man Utd and Newcastle’s exit from Europe, though, the Premier League will struggle to gain one of those.

Instead, the Bundesliga and Serie A have pulled clear at the top of UEFA’s coefficient ranking for the season, ESPN reports. Both nations have a full compliment of clubs left, giving them more chances in 2024 to accumulate more points.

LaLiga is only marginally behind the Premier League, with Ligue 1 a little further back.

This is a blow to all clubs who felt chasing fifth in England’s top flight was a manageable objective to reach the Champions League, though it is Man Utd, Tottenham and Newcastle who are most obviously impacted.

They will instead need to find a way to leapfrog, at least one of Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa or Manchester City if they want to reach the competition next term – unless, of course, the quirk that could see Pep Guardiola’s side kicked out of the Champions League occurs.