Manchester United are facing accusations of attempting to erase the club’s history as staff prepare for another brutal wave of job cuts. Employees have been called for a meeting scheduled for Monday at Old Trafford, where they anticipate being informed that up to 200 more positions will be cut from the payroll.
This comes only seven months after new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group made 250 staff redundant. The latest financial results from United depict a club in turmoil.
The situation is so dire that executives chose not to host the recent FA Youth Cup match against Chelsea at Old Trafford, saving £8,000 by relocating the game to the nearby Leigh Sports ground.
United are £515million in debt after 20 years of reckless Glazer family ownership and owe an additional £414million to other clubs for player transfers.
Ratcliffe has issued a warning that the club is now at serious risk of breaching the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), having teetered on the edge in recent years.
Despite head coach Ruben Amorim’s inability to enhance results on the field, drastic reductions are anticipated in United’s 80-member scouting department – despite the necessity to identify players who can execute the manager’s playing philosophy.
United are set to shift their focus towards a more analytical strategy for scouting talent, potentially sidelining traditional methods of in-person player assessments.
This change could also pave the way for preferred agents to secure deals at Old Trafford with greater ease, but the Red Devils are taking measures to drag themselves out of a 12-year rut.
Mirror Sport report that INEOS chief Sir Dave Brailsford and his team are sick of the constant references to United’s golden era under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Brailsford is said to believe that the club’s historical success is casting a shadow over efforts to revive United’s fortunes after a 12-year slump post-Ferguson.
It’s claimed that some key figures at the club even suggest that Ferguson himself may have contributed to the decline by not adapting to new coaching and scouting techniques.
A source from within United disclosed: “INEOS want absolutely nothing to do with the past.
“They don’t want to hear how things were done when United were winning 13 Premier League titles and they won’t accept any suggestion that lessons can be learned from when the club’s greatest-ever manager was in charge.
“It’s all very well drawing a line under the last 12 years and saying ‘let’s move on.’ But it’s become an obsession not to mention the period when United were one of the best teams in Europe.”
Ferguson was hit hard by Radcliffe’s ruthless cost-cutting measures, learning in October that his £2.5m-a-year ambassadorial contract would not be extended come summer.
Staff not stationed at Old Trafford can tune into Monday’s meeting virtually – but many anxious employees have noted that the standard three-month notice period in most contracts could extend until the season’s end, providing a temporary reprieve.
This article was first published on Mirror Sport
