£200m summer flops BLAMED as Man Utd to make 100 more staff REDUNDANT

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 12 Feb 2025 09:06 GMT
4 min read

Manchester United are set to make more than 100 members of staff redundant in another cost-cutting cull of their workforce.

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That is according to a report in The Athletic, which states that United are once again planning more mass redundancies.

Since Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS became a co-owner of Man Utd in December 2023 - assuming sporting control of the club - there have already been numerous cost-cutting exercises that have affected staff.

Last summer INEOS oversaw the redundancies of 250 non-playing members of staff. They also enacted many other economic restraints such as cutting down on charity donations and free cereal bars to stewards.

This was an extremely controversial move at the time and there is now set to be more anger as United reportedly plan 100 more redundancies.

United executives are said to describe the new redundancies as “necessary”.

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The last round of redundancies are said to have saved United around £40-45 million.

It’s reported that United believe they need to make more cuts due to their risk of not meeting the Premier League’s financial regulations.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League this season - and the added risk of not making it next season either - have also affected United’s coffers.

© IMAGO - Ruben Amorim may not have much money to spend

The Athletic further reports, though, that a number of members of staff who are at risk of redunancy have blamed INEOS' transfer policy for leaving ordinary workers in danger of unemployment.

Workers believe that United blew over £200m on summer signings who have not impressed, such as Matthijs De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Leny Yoro and Manuel Ugarte. Additionally, the amateur-like decision-making with Erik ten Hag and Dan Ashworth also played a big role in United's failures.

Staff believe they are paying the price for the failures of INEOS and management.

Man Utd financial trouble

The alarming situation of Man Utd’s finances led to fan group The 1958 last month writing a formal letter to the club and United’s reply has since been published where they admitted they would need to make some ‘difficult choices’ to become cash positive again.

The letter read: “As previously communicated, we are however currently making a significant loss each year – totalling over £300 million in the past three years. This is not sustainable and if we do not act now we are in danger of failing to comply with PSR/FFP [financial fair play] requirements in future years and significantly impacting our ability to compete on the pitch.

“We will get back to a cash positive position as soon as possible and we will have to make some difficult choices to get there. That has included a significant reduction to our workforce as well as cuts across many areas of spend across our club.

“We do not expect fans to make up all the current shortfall – but we do need to look at our ticketing strategy to ensure we are charging the right amount, and offering the right discounts, across our products for our fans.”

There have been reports in recent days that United will need to focus more on the free transfer market this summer as they won’t be able to spend big money on transfer fees without selling players first.