Sir Jim Ratcliffe insists brutal Man Utd cuts were needed to force out ‘mediocrity’

The Manchester United owner has been speaking about his first 18 months at Old Trafford, during which time he’s overseen 450 job cuts

Sir Jim Ratcliffe insists his brutal cost-cutting at Manchester United was necessary to cut out ‘mediocrity’ – as he declared: “No one’s ever given me a free lunch”.

Ratcliffe spent £1billion to acquire a 27.7 percent shareholding in the club in February 2024 and has since led huge cost-cutting at the 19-time English champions. That includes the billionaire INEOS chief overseeing up to 450 jobs being axed since he bought a minority stake – which handed him control over the footballing side of the club.

He also stopped the policy of free meals for club staff and has angered United fans by raising match day ticket prices to £66 per game, with no concessions for children or pensioners. But in defence of his save cost cuts, Ratcliffe, speaking on The Business podcast, insists: “The costs were just too high. There are some fantastic people at Manchester United, but there was also a level of mediocrity and it had become bloated. I got a lot of flak for the free lunches, but no-one’s ever given me a free lunch.”

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He also insists that improving the club’s financial performance was the key to sustained success on the pitch.

“There are two halves to a football team,” said Ratcliffe. “There’s the business side and the sports side. The biggest correlation, like it or not, between results and any external factor – is profitability. The more cash you’ve got, the better squad you can build. It’s like a Formula One car – the better car you can build, the quicker you go. The better your squad, the better your football should be.

“So a lot of what we’ve done in the first year is spend an awful lot of time putting the club on a sustainable, healthy footing. If you look at our results for last year, we have the highest revenues ever. Profitability, the second highest ever. We’re not seeing all the benefits of the restructuring that we’ve done in this set of results, and we weren’t in the Champions League.

“Those numbers will get better. Manchester United will become the most profitable football club in the world, in my view, and from that will stem, I hope, a long-term, sustainable, high-level of football.”

Ratcliffe has seen United produce their worst-ever Premier League season during his first campaign at the helm – with failure to win in the Europa League final against Spurs ensuring they missed out on European football this term. He insists he understands anger from fans over the club’s results, but says it’s a long-term project putting the team into position to challenge again for major honours.

“The press, sometimes I don’t understand,” said Ratcliffe. “They want overnight success. They think it’s a light switch. You know, you flick a switch and it’s all going to be roses tomorrow.

“You can’t run a club like Manchester United on knee-jerk reactions to some journalist who goes off on one every week.”

Ratcliffe, who is already unpopular with United fans, also praised majority owners the Glazers, who have drained more than £1bn out of the club during their 20-year ownership.

“They get a bad rap,” said Ratcliffe. “But they are really nice people and they are really passionate about the club.”

Asked about their relationship, Ratcliffe said they were content to let him take charge of the club.

“That probably sums it up,” said Ratcliffe. “We’re local, and they’re the other side of the pond. That’s a long way away to try and manage a football club as big as complex as Manchester United. We’re here with feet on the ground.”

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