Project 90.
That is the “internal codename” amongst Manchester United staff for the new economic initiative aiming to tackle the precarious financial state INEOS inherited from the Glazer family, according to a report.
Improving the balance sheet
‘Project 90’ is a plan to “improve United’s balance sheet by £90 million each year” through commercial and competitive means, or, more controversially, cost-cutting measures.
The Athletic reveals the club are seeking to achieve this through “operating savings or raised commercial deals, but better player trading which, if it works, brings prize money and and more broadcast revenue.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has received fierce criticism, internally and externally, for the range of brutal cost-cutting measures INEOS have implemented since gaining control over the football operation at Old Trafford last year.
Mass redundancies have come at the same time as a hike in tickets with a growing sense that INEOS are content to let the normal people associated with club front the costs of the handsomely paid stars underperforming on the pitch.
INEOS will point to a staff body which dwarfed the size of other top clubs in England – United had about 1,100 employees when they took over, while Arsenal had just over 700 – and rising ticket prices across the league as evidence for these decisions, however.
Led by Matt Armstrong, the club’s chief business officer after being poached from Paris-Saint Germain earlier this year, United have also raised significant amounts through commercial deals, evidenced by the new three-year partnership with Coca Cola.
A Focus on the Market
INEOS chose to increase the lending capacity of the club’s “revolving credit facility” in order to finance this summer’s transfer budget with the belief that Amorim needed to be backed in the market.
This was not a decision taken lightly with INEOS aiming – through initiatives like Project 90 – to get the “balance to zero and build their own cash reserves,” rather than extending the amount of debt at Old Trafford.
Spending money on transfers now can, however, pay itself back in the future.
United spent more than £200 million on transfers this summer – a costly outlay but one designed, in theory, to return Ruben Amorim’s side to European football, be it the Champions League or Europa League, which generates significant levels of revenue.
The report states the club “expect to be in a good position” from an FFP perspective next year, and an “even better one” on PSR, further strengthening their capability in the transfer market next summer.
Under the Glazer ownership, the financial state of the club was of little concern as long as the American owners’ pockets were not affected.
Whether INEOS are taking the right steps, on and off the pitch, remains to be seen – but the fact that there is an approach aimed at improving both the football and commercial sides of the operation is a major improvement from the past.
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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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.
