Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s brutal Europa League Final decision sparks anger at Man Utd

Sir Jim Ratcliffe will not offer complimentary Europa League finals to Manchester United staff as he continues to run a tight ship financially – whilst Tottenham have offered every full-time employee a ticket

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has opted against handing free Europa League final tickets to Manchester United staff members as his brutal cost-cutting continues. The Red Devils will contest the showpiece event in Bilbao – but their employees won’t be rewarded with complimentary tickets – which is in stark contrast to the decisions taken by Tottenham

United will take on the north Londoners in an all-Premier League affair and they have been given an allocation of around 15,000 for the clash on May 21. The Manchester club are holding a ballot where a small number of tickets will be available for their staff. They have chosen to host a screening for the majority of staff closer to home with the invite open to plus-ones.

Ratcliffe’s frugal nature means that the member of staff will be given two free drinks, while their guests will have to pay for theirs, reports the Daily Mail. Tottenham meanwhile have chosen to offer a complimentary ticket to every full-time employee should they want to travel to Bilbao – which could be up to 700 individuals.

Those within Old Trafford feel that the club are prioritising supporters over staff, with tickets naturally in high demand. It is the Red Devils first European final since 2021, when they lost the Europa League final. On that occasion they had just 2,000 tickets as the world was emerging from the Covid lockdown.

In the past, whilst they had significantly higher allocations, United paid for flights, accommodation and food for staff for the last three Champions League finals the club have appeared in.

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For the Europa League final in 2017 the club had an allocation of just 10,000. As a result they planned an event in Manchester at which drinks would have been free, with former Take That singer Gary Barlow due to provide entertainment. The event was later cancelled after the Manchester Arena terror attack.

Ratcliffe and Ineos, since taking charge in Manchester, have overseen two rounds of redundancies as the billionaire seeks to cut costs and redirect revenue towards the playing squad. Staff have seen a number of benefits taken away from them, which includes the cancelling of the Christmas party.

Ratcliffe’s stance could not differ more from PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, who will pay for the 600 staff members at the Parisian outfit to go to the Champions League final. All club employees will be able to attend the Champions League final on May 31 against Inter Milan as the French side look to conquer Europe for the first time.

Both sides received around 19,000 tickets for the match and it also been reported that Inter Milan are providing free tickets to their staff for the clash at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

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