Manchester United fans will have to celebrate a not-so-happy Christmas after the team's recent disappointing defeats. This is a complete contrast to Christmas 2023, when "Red Devils" fans were very happy when Sir Jim Ratcliffe officially took over football-related activities at Man United.
However, things are still not looking up after a full year of the British billionaire running the team. In fact, 2024 is considered a turbulent year for the red half of Manchester. Ticket prices are still rising, inversely proportional to the players' declining performance. More than 250 employees have been announced to be laid off to cut costs for the team. Meanwhile, the £220 million spent on the transfer market has not shown the desired results.
On the professional side, the Man United board was heavily criticized for sacking Erik ten Hag just 115 days after signing a new contract. This caused the team to pay a contract compensation fee of up to 10.4 million pounds, and had to spend an additional 11 million pounds to have the services of Ruben Amorim. However, after 9 matches, the Man United players still played disjointedly and could not adapt to the Portuguese strategist's playing style.
In addition, problems related to injuries, internal information leaks... are gradually becoming normal at M.U as they occur more frequently. In the context of the dismissal of Sports Director Dan Ashworth after only 159 days of being appointed, Marcus Rashford - the brightest star at Old Trafford - also publicly announced his intention to leave.
"Man United have become mediocre. We are no longer an elite team and one of the best clubs in the world. We are nothing more than the shadow of what we were under Alex Ferguson," Sir Jim Ratcliffe told United We Stand on December 7.
Manchester United will need to make some tough and unpopular decisions if they want to restore their status, according to the British billionaire. According to the Telegraph, the Manchester United board is expected to decide next summer whether to renovate Old Trafford or build a new 100,000-seat stadium on adjacent land in south-west Manchester.
The new stadium is expected to cost between £2 and £2.3 billion and will transform Man United's home into the "Wembley of the North", with a more upscale and grandiose design. Not only that, the new stadium is said to be inspired by Wembley, with a roof that doubles as a giant LED advertising space. This will help the team earn more from advertising and other services.
In addition, billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team are also actively reviewing all spending and looking for additional sources of available revenue. Man United has even taken legal advice to prepare for the case that the team can claim compensation if Manchester City is found to have breached Premier League financial rules next year. These are considered efforts to cover the huge spending in the transfer market but have not brought results.
According to statistics, Man Utd has spent a total of 1.98 billion pounds on recruiting players, since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. However, in the last 11 seasons, the Red Devils' total points are still 254 points behind the Premier League champions. Similarly, The Red Devils are likely to continue to follow that path when they are currently drowning in 13th place, 17 points behind the leader Liverpool after 17 rounds.
The dire statistics partly explain why staff have been laid off and fans are so angry and frustrated, and billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has a lot of work to do in 2025 if he wants to revive a United side that is deep in crisis in 2024.
