‘Man United shock with post-final departures after Ratcliffe booed by staff’
Man United’s Europa League final loss to Tottenham saw the club’s staff boo minority-owner Jim Ratcliffe and he has already given them reason to again.
Heading into the Europa League final in Bilbao, the match against Spurs and their under-pressure boss Ange Postecoglou was seen as an opportunity to kick-start Ruben Amorim’s reign.
The Portuguese manager has struggled since taking over from Erik ten Hag midway through a difficult season, and his side have slipped to 16th in the Premier League.
Amorim has not been helped by the upheaval that has taken place under Ratcliffe. 250 members of staff were made redundant last summer, and a further 100 Man United staff were laid off in February.
But having lost 1-0 to Tottenham, further cuts have been made at the club, leading to a hostile reaction towards the Red Devils’ minority owner, reports MailOnline.
Jim Ratcliffe booed as Man United begin laying off more staff
As reported, United began the process of telling staff they had lost their jobs just hours after the loss to Tottenham.
Sources “expressed surprise” at the timing of the move to deliver the news to staff, but the club appear keen to make financial savings as soon as possible, given they have just missed out on a £100million windfall of Champions League qualification, prize money and sponsorship.
Morale is said to be low inside the club, with popular and longstanding members of staff set to depart, and it is not known if Ratcliffe plans more cuts to the workforce.
The Athletic also revealed that during a screening of the game back in Manchester, staff were concerned about the financial impact of losing, as CEO Omar Berrada had revealed that more redundancies were based on qualifying for the Europa League over the next four seasons in February.
When Ratcliffe and co-owner Avram Glazer appeared on-screen, boos rang out among the 1,000-strong crowd of employees and family. This happened once during the game, and once again at full-time, with the mood afterwards described as “very sombre”.
Jim Ratcliffe driving Man United into the ground
Ratcliffe’s takeover in February 2024 was meant to herald a new beginning for Man United, with the British businessman waking the sleeping giant and leading them back to their glory days.
Instead, the club are sitting 16th in the Premier League and will be without the financial gains of European football next season.
Rather than looking to change the way the club approaches recruitment, United are pressing ahead with the big-money purchase of Matheus Cunha.
The transfer reeks of hubris because this is the only way the Red Devils know how to deal with their issues under the stewardship of Ratcliffe: spending exorbitantly on transfers and forcing their ordinary staff to bear the brunt of that decision.
It really is a grim state of affairs when a football club with the resources of United’s burdens their long-standing staff, fans, and members of their community with their financial mismanagement.