Manchester United’s match-going supporters knew this reckoning had been coming for much of the season. Since the club’s part-owners INEOS and British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe put their feet firmly under the table at Old Trafford, the focus across the club has been on cutting costs and driving up revenue.
By now, we have heard plenty from Ratcliffe about the dire straits of United’s finances; most notably his questionable claims over the past week that the club would have gone “bust” by Christmas without what he describes as a “transformation” in financial strategy.
This has included all manners of cuts; no more company credit cards, slashing multi-million pound ambassadorial payments to legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson and, most significantly, reducing the club’s headcount by up to 450 people. This is all part of an attempt, outlined by both Ratcliffe and his chief executive Omar Berrada, by the new leadership to make United the “most profitable club in the world”. In doing so, this will, in theory, create a surplus that can be reinvested into the club’s infrastructure, the men’s and women’s teams, as well as the academy, all while complying with the Premier League’s increasingly rigorous profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
The easiest way…
