The financial struggles at Manchester United aren’t news to anyone now with this year being one cost-cutting measure after another from new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Since INEOS took charge of football operations, we’ve seen controversial decisions hitting staff and fans alike.
For the fans, ticket prices have seen their concessions scrapped, with children and older fans all paying the standard £66 per ticket.
It’s already been announced that season tickets for next year are getting a 5% increase with tiered ticketing coming in for individual games based on the opponent.
As for the staff, travelling staff for tours and cup games have been downsized, with all internal orders being scrutinised and that’s not to mention the mass of redundancies already been made.
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INEOS and their Manchester United redundancies
Since INEOS have taken charge at Old Trafford, the new co-owners have inflicted 450 redundancies, affecting 40% of the 1112 staff that were at the club when they took over.
In no time at all after taking charge, a mass of 250 redundancies were made, while six months later another 200 followed suit.
Admittedly at the point of Ratcliffe taking over, Untied employed more staff than any other team in the Premier League, with their local rivals Manchester City only employing 520.
However, the ruthless axing of so many staff has unsurprisingly affected the perception of the INEOS owner.
Ratcliffe recently claimed that without these measures and redundancies, United were set to be bust by Christmas 2025, in a means of justifying that desperate times call for desperate measures.
However, the United staff are now banding together putting forward another cost-cutting measure, taking aim directly at Omar Berrada.
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Manchester United staff call for pay cut for Omar Berrada
Now, The Sun has reported that staff are beginning to rebel, with the start of the one-to-one meetings between Omar Berrada and the staff taking place this week to let the United employees know of their fates.
A source close to the issue commented: “Everything has changed since Ineos came in – and not for the better.”
The y continued: “Berrada stood in front of everybody at the academy and said we had to do it. But someone stood up and told him ‘you said six months ago that we had to lose 250 jobs but this would be it.
“Now six months later we’re losing another 200 people. What’s to say in six months’ time it won’t be happening again?
“A couple of months ago we got the email about lunches being ended and Berrada told us it would save £1m a year.
“But someone piped up ‘hang on a minute – that’s one month’s wages for Casemiro; you’re on £4m a year, so why don’t you take a £1m cut?’
“The mood is really not good. It’s got to the point where people are choosing not to go to the training ground unless they have to be there.”
This defiance in the United camp is a clear tell of the atmosphere being created at the club and the resentment that is being harboured against the new ownership.
Unless INEOS can do something to turn things around and boost staff morale at the club, it’s unclear where this could potentially leave with it only a matter of time until the issues spill out onto the pitch.
