Manchester United’s football staff are finding out today (Friday) if they are at risk of redundancy with the club looking to cut another 200 jobs from the workforce.
Members of the football department were informed by email they would be told their fate less than 48 hours on from assisting the team in the Europa League final.
United hosted a barbecue for these same employees at Carrington on Thursday evening, a day after the match against Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao, and the timing has been badly received internally. It is expected physios and masseurs will be impacted.
United had postponed this stage of the process for those around the first team so as not to disrupt the final weeks of the season. Other non-football staff were informed if their positions were at risk at the start of May.
The club wanted to provide clarity before the end of the Premier League campaign on Sunday, after which the squad will fly to Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong on a post-season tour.
The number of United’s scouts is also being reduced, while The Athletic has previously reported on the upcoming exits of director of scouting Steve Brown, director of football operations David Harrison, and director of innovations Richard Hawkins.
United confirmed in February that they were set to make 150 to 200 redundancies as part of wider cost-cutting measures under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stewardship, following the 250 redundancies made the previous summer. This takes the number of redundancies at United to 450 since Ratcliffe completed his minority purchase of the club in February 2024, representing a significant cut to the workforce. United had an average of 1,112 monthly employees according to club accounts for the year ending June 30, 2023.
Ratcliffe has made a series of decisions aimed at reducing costs at Old Trafford since completing his minority investment in United and taking control of operations across the club. The announcement of the upcoming redundancies in February was also coupled with changes to provisions of food for employees.
United, who remain majority owned by the Florida-based Glazer family, have posted five consecutive full-year losses since last achieving profitability during the 2018-19 season, totalling £373million ($503m).
United were beaten in the Europa League final by Tottenham on Wednesday, with defeat meaning the club miss out on qualification for next season’s Champions League and the subsequent financial benefits of European football. Their final game comes against Champions League-chasing Aston Villa at Old Trafford.
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