According to reports, Manchester United have ‘accounted for’ their continued absence from the Champions League to ease staff ‘concerns’.
INEOS supremo Sir Jim Ratcliffe inherited a mess at Old Trafford and has been heavily criticised since completing his takeover of Man Utd at the start of 2024.
The British billionaire initially purchased a 28% stake in the Premier League giants for around £1.25bn before upping his share to 29% for an extra £79m. As part of this deal, he took over from the Glazer family in running footballing matters at Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe has had plenty of difficult decisions to make as he’s attempted to reduce United’s debt and he’s sanctioned a major cost-cutting programme.
The 72-year-old has rapidly gone from hero to villain as he’s hiked ticket prices, sanctioned mass redundancies, scrapped Christmas benefits and payments to club legends and cut staff lunches.
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Man Utd are second in our five-year Premier League net spend table and their recent struggles on the pitch have added to their misery after they failed to qualify for the Champions League last season.
The Red Devils are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table, which is partly thanks to them sitting 14th in our calendar-year standings.
United chiefs are facing a busy few months as they look to boost their budget ahead of what could be a major squad overhaul in the summer.
Their poor performances in the Premier League are already impacting plans, according to a report from The Telegraph.
It’s claimed Man Utd are ‘budgeting without Champions League football next season’ and ‘are planning for playing in Europa League, at most, for next four years rather than Champions League’.
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To ease staff ‘concerns’, Man Utd have ‘accounted for the prospect of the club missing out on European qualification this season’. The report explains:
‘United announced last week that there would be up to a further 200 job cuts on top of the 250 redundancies from last summer as part of the club’s ongoing drive to save money after pre-tax losses of £313 million in the last three seasons.
‘Budgeting going forward has been calculated under the assumption that United qualify for the Europa League for the next four years – a marked change after years of budgeting to reach the Champions League knockout stages.
‘Telegraph Sport believes this caused some concern and unease among staff fearful of the financial implications and knock-on effect on jobs if United fail to secure European qualification this term.
‘However, it has emerged that United have factored in the threat of no European football at Old Trafford next season as part of their costings.’
