Manchester United has just completed the first two transfer deals in the summer of 2024 with the contracts named Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro.For the first time in years, Man United's transfer policy has shown such determination.
However, these are just prominent changes in the unprecedented-scale reform of the Old Trafford team under billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe. British media revealed that Man United had announced the dismissal of 250 employees before the new season started.This is considered the first step in the effort to cut costs of the Old Trafford team.Man United staff expressed anger and hurt after a brief announcement from Jean-Claude Blanc, the teams interim CEO.
According to The Athletic, this personnel cut by the Old Trafford team was actually predicted in advance. According to the latest statistics in March 2024, Man United's workforce is up to 1,144 employees/month - the largest in the Premier League. Therefore, new co-owners of INEOS, headed by billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, hope to cut 20% of their workforce in May with the decision to stop voluntary work. Employees will receive annual bonuses earlier if they decide to quit their jobs. However, few people accepted the club's offer at that time.
This is considered a comprehensive overhaul of unprecedented scale at Man United, when all other departments and levels of the club were cut. Only the Manchester United Foundation (the club's charity) was not affected. In addition, INEOS also canceled the company's credit cards and recommended that football team employees not spend too much on basic items, such as office items.
Not only that, Man United staff also have to contribute the cost to the party after the FA Cup championship. Similarly, no money was taken from the team's fund to organize a farewell ceremony for the members of the senior management board who were about to retire.
The Athletic described the changes at the club as a proper-scale adjustment - a way to avoid cutting staff.Basically, this is the first step to restructure the company to better meet business needs.
In fact, appropriate scale adjustment was applied by INEOS when it acquired Innovene Chemical Company for a value of £6.9 billion at the end of 2005.This method helped the company be assessed as a young player in the petrochemical industry of Sir Jim Ratcliffe at that time to become the world's third largest company.
Immediately after owning Innovene, the British billionaire made a surprising decision when he decided to close the company's global headquarters in Chicago, USA - which had only opened 7 months before. Other offices in Lisle, Illinois and Staines in the south of England were also closed.
According to the company's report, this is part of a restructuring program to bring Innovene into line with the "business strategy" set by INEOS. In the next 7 years, INEOS will spend about 220 million Euros to cut staff, mainly on severance pay and early pension payments to former employees.
Although the personnel cut has been met with criticism from the team's staff, it is a necessary measure to help Man United avoid future debts. According to the announcement of the third quarter business results of the fiscal year, Man United were losing 76.9 million pounds at the end of March. The pre-tax loss even reached 89.2 million pounds. Notably, the last time the Old Trafford team announced a profit was at the end of 2019. Since then, the Red Devils have suffered a total loss of £331.1m.
The Athletic revealed that Man Utd are currently spending more than £1 million in interest per week on debt in the third quarter of last season. In other words, the fee of £420,000 received from Girona in the Van de Beek sale deal will be used to pay these debts.
It is too early to assess whether billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team can help Man United return to their original position in the past. However, the restructuring of the team and changes in transfer policy are giving a positive signal to Man United before the 2024-2025 season.
