Manchester United fans have been left disgusted by the latest cut set to be made by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe made clear early on that he was unafraid to make unpopular decisions at Manchester United, which included a high number of redundancies at the club.
The latest decision to come from Ineos and Ratcliffe is so unpopular it is offensive.
Ineos are set to slash funding to the Association of Former Manchester United Players, a charitable arm that provides funding to former players, most of who played long before high wages were part of the game.
Ratcliffe’s funding cut
Sir Jim Ratcliffe‘s cost-cutting is extreme, amid serious concerns regarding Manchester United’s ability to function financially and comply with PSR rules.
Ratcliffe evidently feels United cannot afford to give money away, and desperately need to raise cash, which is why the squad are being shunted on a post-season tour to Malaysia.
Yet the cost-saving benefits with this are so miniscule that it surely cannot be worth the PR hit Ratcliffe is taking, and the disgust being felt by fans.
The saving will bring just £40,000 to Manchester United, which for context is less than Tom Heaton earns on a weekly basis, the team’s third-choice goalkeeper.
This comes after Ineos had announced a ticket price rise – that could have been offset by selling a single first team player.
One year into their spell in charge at United, fan opinion on Ineos has plunged, with these decisions coupled with the move to hire and fire Dan Ashworth, making a mess of the managerial situation, while the team rank 14th in the table.
Don’t let the Glazers off
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are wielding the axe – but the very reason they have to do is due to the financial mess created by the Glazers. And this should not be forgotten.
That does not mean Ratcliffe and Ineos are justified with their decision to cut funding to the Association of Former Manchester United Players (AFMUP), they have made a severe error of judgment here, and have bumbled into this decision out of desperation.
In a statement to supporters after being challenged in a fan forum, Manchester United described the club’s financial situation as ‘unsustainable’.
With United failing on the pitch too and at risk of missing out on European football entirely next season, hard decisions are in play.
It has been a mess at United ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, with the Glazers getting their claws deeper in at the club, under the stewardship of Ed Woodward.
The Glazers are the ones who have been taking money out of the club for years, who have leveraged the club in impossibly-high debt, and have overseen wasteful spending in many areas.
They are currently slinking into the background, while Ratcliffe takes the tough decisions to try and cut down a bloated United. He’s getting some right, and some wrong, and taking all the flak – while the Glazers are getting off scot-free, with barely a critical word said against them in the media.
The club’s statement said it all: “We are no longer able to make charitable donations to AFMUP while the club is making significant losses.”
They quite easily could. It is pocket change in comparison to how much revenue the club makes – and so this speaks volumes for how badly mismanaged the club has been, to get us to this point, where they feel they have to make it, and need to justify it.
Ineos have been at the club for one year, while the Glazers will make it 20 years next summer. They are responsible for this shocking decline and this disgusting turn of events.
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