Manchester United have published their full-year financial results and the club’s net losses have been confirmed after Ratcliffe has made cuts.
United’s net losses escalated to £113.2million for the financial year and Sir Jim Radcliffe’s ‘cost-saving programme’ is under way to put the club on a more sustainable financial footing.
The club recorded a net loss of £28.7m in 2023 and the net losses have risen due in part to increased investment in the playing squad’s transfers and wages.
Ratcliffe has been busy on streamlining operations at United since investing in the club in February, beginning with immediate plans accelerating to axe around 250 jobs across departments.
The new leadership team, comprising the likes of CEO Omar Berrada, Sporting Director Dan Ashworth and Technical Director Jason Wilcox, has been installed with a focus on improving efficiency and outcomes in both football and commercial areas, acording to club sources.
United have been streamlining their operation to ‘maximise resources available for investment in football and infrastructure, and ensure that money is spent effectively’ the changes should help United put the club on a sustainable financial footing, but net losses for this financial year increased to a similarly hefty sum that was lost in 2022.
For context, United recorded a net loss of £115.5m in 2022 and a net loss of £92.2m in 2021, and the new football structure will hope to post a net loss around the 2023 figure (£28.7m) more often.
United started to inform members of staff that they were at risk of redundancy in June, with individual meetings held with members of staff and departments.
The new boards’ review of the club’s operations found United had the highest employee count in the Premier League and the decision was made to shed close to a fifth of the workforce.
Numerous academy staff, including coaches, have hence been affected by the club-wide redundancy programme amid United’s objective to have an agile, best-in-class staff equipped to support the next stage of the youth system’s evolution, but these changes have split fan opinion.
Reiterating their stand that they ‘don’t relish making these difficult decisions’ the club have said they are part of a restructure to ensure they avoid a square pegs in round holes quandary and have the right people in the right roles to deliver success.
Speaking at the latest fans’ forum, United’s chief operating officer, Collette Roche, explained the decision to make redundancies, saying: “There will be other departures too as we continue to restructure the club to ensure we have the right people in the right roles for long-term success.
“Significant transformation is required to meet the challenges we face to be successful on and off the pitch. We believe greater efficiency can lead to better outcomes. The cost review has identified “non-essential” activities we can stop, and we therefore believe we have more people than we need to deliver future club priorities.
“We are proposing a club-wide redundancy programme, which we believe will reduce headcount by 250 roles. There is now a formal consultation under way with colleagues so I can’t say any more about the process until that is completed. But we have not taken this decision lightly and would not be doing it if we didn’t feel it was necessary for the long-term health and success of the club.”