‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe HATED by everyone at Man Utd’

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 4 Mar 2025 08:38 GMT
4 min read

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is almost universally reviled at Manchester United after a series of redundancies throughout the club.

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United made 250 club employees redundant last year and have recently confirmed that the latest redundancy scheme will see another 150-200 club jobs disappear.

There have been shocking stories shared of staff who have worked at Man Utd for decades, only to be unceremoniously let go with just days - and sometimes hours - notice.

The canteen has been closed down and reportedly even free cereal bars withdrawn from stewards as Ratcliffe has overseen an extreme period of austerity at the club.

Ratcliffe has been painted by the media as a Scrooge-like figure who is targetting the working class at Man Utd, while the highly-paid and under-performing players and directors at the club continue to be paid handsomely.

Man Utd journalist Samuel Luckhurst has revealed just how low morale is throughout the club and just how hated Ratcliffe is.

How Ratcliffe is seen at Old Trafford

"It's pretty miserable and I think that the majority of the staff are quite demoralised at the state of the club and I think that's been the case for the past year with 250 redundancies," Luckhurst wrote.

“Last year there were going to be 200 redundancies. This year you have people who decided to leave before the redundancies were announced and as far as the supporters are concerned, Jim Radcliffe is reviled at the moment.

“He is well and truly bracketed with the Glazer family, who have been the owners for nearly 20 years.”

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

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

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.

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The Athletic reports 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.”

Man Utd have endured another disastrous season on the pitch under Ratcliffe with the club down in 14th position in the Premier League. They were knocked out of the FA Cup by Fulham on Sunday.