Manchester United‘s co-owners Ineos are ready to make savage cuts after emailing all employees on Tuesday inviting them to take redundancy.
The mood at Old Trafford and Carrington plummeted just four days after United celebrated winning the FA Cup by beating Manchester City at Wembley.
Ineos have been conducting an economy drive since Sir Jim Ratcliffe made a £1.3billion investment and appointed corporate restructuring consultants Interpath to look at ways of cutting costs across the company.
It’s anticipated that up to a fifth of the 1,100 workforce could go as United look to save money.
All non-football staff received the email on Tuesday and were given a week to decide if they want to give up their jobs by agreeing to ‘voluntary resignation’.
Manchester United employees have been given a week to decide on voluntary resignation
Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to cut costs as they lost £42million in 2022-23 despite record revenue
It confirmed their fears that job cuts have been inevitable since Ratcliffe’s minority takeover was confirmed at Christmas.
The Ineos billionaire has already got tough with staff earlier this month by ordering anyone still working from home to return to the office immediately ‘or seek alternative employment’, and demanding that Old Trafford and Carrington be kept tidy because some areas were ‘a disgrace’.
Staff were already unhappy after being told that they would only get one ticket each for the Cup Final and the club would no longer pay for their travel and meals, as it had in previous years.
Employees had to pay for the £20 return coach fare to Wembley as well as their only food and drinks at service stations. Mail Sport understands that 50 more staff than last year refused to take a ticket for the Cup Final because many were unhappy over Ineos’ cost-cutting measures.
The co-owners are also aware of growing opposition among fans to sacking Erik ten Hag as the club conducts an end-of-season review into the Dutchman’s performance while continuing to hold talks with a number of potential replacements including Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Frank.
Meanwhile Ineos are confident of convincing UEFA that both United and Nice can play in the Europa League next season.
United’s new investors have until next week to satisfy Europe’s governing body that they will not be in breach of the multi-club ownership rules if both teams enter the competition.
United qualified after beating City on Saturday, while Nice finished fifth in La Liga.
Staff will be required to work from their offices in Manchester and London full-time from June 1
United also axed FA Cup final perks as part of a supposed crackdown on spending under minority owner Ratcliffe – while players’ partners had an expensive meal paid for
If an independent panel rules against Ineos then United would have to drop into the Europa Conference because they finished lower in their domestic competition, ending up eighth in the Premier League.
Ineos bought the French club in 2019 and acquired a 27.7 per cent stake in United this season. However, a further £245million investment in United has been pledged by Ratcliffe that will take Ineos’ stake above the 30 per cent threshold under UEFA rules.
Ineos are hopeful a compromise can be found and issued a statement saying: ‘We are aware of the position of both clubs and are in direct dialogue with UEFA. We are confident we have a route forward for next season in Europe.’
It’s understood that if Ineos cannot convince the panel that the two clubs are run entirely separately, they will consider altering the ownership structure at Nice.
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