Manchester United held an all-staff meeting on Monday afternoon with chief executive Omar Berrada laying out a “transformation plan” for the future of the club, involving further cuts to the workforce.
The Athletic describes a “muted reaction” in the meeting as Berrada revealed there would be more redundancies after an “initial round of 250 job cuts last summer”.
However, the language used by the club’s executive centred around “overcoming obstacles and recollections of triumphing over adversity” with many attendees described as “taken aback” by the tone of the meeting, given a large number of employees would not be there to meet this ‘challenge’.
A Brutal First Year
In reality, Berrada’s words amounted to a gentle starter before the brutal main course was served after the meeting had concluded, with an email dispatched confirming “150 to 200 roles are at risk” from the club’s non-playing staff body.
It concludes a grim first year for Sir Jim Ratcliffe at the helm of the Red Devils with his INEOS Sport team implementing a series of cost-cutting measures at Old Trafford, including reducing the workforce.
Ticket prices were raised, sparking fury from the club’s match-day fans who angrily confronted the British billionaire at Craven Cottage in January. Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial role was slashed while there were plans to cut funding to the Manchester United foundation charity. All non-playing staff will have their free lunches replaced by fruit bowls while a £50 ‘Steward of the Week’ prize was substituted with a certificate.
There were more examples of INEOS’ approach to ‘streamlining’ the operation at their new sporting venture, but the list is as comprehensive as it is almost callous in its application.
However, the vision United’s new co-owners laid out in Monday’s meeting had one eye-raising prediction it was founded upon – Ruben Amorim’s side qualifying for the Europa League for the next four seasons.
United’s New Home in Europe
The Athletic writes, “In Monday’s meeting, it was mentioned that the costs and savings associated with these measures have been calculated under the assumption that United qualify for the Europa League for the next four years. But given Amorim’s side currently sit 15th in the Premier League table only on goal difference, that raised an obvious question: what if they’re not?”
The revenue generated from United’s participation in the Europa League is key to the club’s finances this season. Evidently, the money accrued from the Champions League dwarves its little brother, but the Reds’ only prospect of entry back into Europe’s big brother is to win the Europa League itself.
Similarly, it’s increasingly certain United’s only route to maintain its current revenue stream from the Europa League next year is to win the FA Cup – a repeat of last season.
Neither option look remotely likely at present given the dismal form of Amorim’s side, with the season-ending injuries to Lisandro Martinez and Amad having ended whatever positivity the Portuguese coach had been able to find in his new squad.
If United are not able to qualify for the Europa League next season, what further cost-cutting measures will INEOS feel obliged to implement? What happens if that’s repeated the campaign after that?
It’s an uncomfortable truth for fans that their new owners are willing to sacrifice the normal people associated with the club in order to pay for the players’ inadequacies on the pitch.
And while there is an even more unpleasant truth that this is a somewhat unavoidable process, given the state of United’s team and the state of the club’s finances as a result of a decade of mismanagement under the Glazer family in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson malaise, the manner in which INEOS have gone about their business has been very avoidable.
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
