Skip to main content

Assessing the Ratcliffe revolution at United

Since acquiring a 27.7 per cent stake in United, which essentially led to him claiming management control of the club’s football and business operations, Ratcliffe has pursued revolution, rather than evolution, at Old Trafford.

Almost the entirety of the club’s senior management team has been turfed out or voluntarily departed, with turnovers of chief executives, the sponsorship team, legal operations, finance and, most notably, the football executive, where a new sporting director, technical director and recruitment lead arrived in the summer months. Much of this change was gleefully received by a United fanbase exasperated by the club’s decade of waste and underperformance following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. Things could hardly get worse, appeared to be the consensus.

 Besides, Ratcliffe provided some sincere cause for optimism. Any gesture, however symbolic, would contrast positively with how the Glazer family had run the club. During their tenure, interest payments to service the debt imposed by their own leveraged takeover and dividends paid out to the Glazer siblings collectively exceeded $1billion (£789million). Ratcliffe could almost be perceived as a Father Christmas figure when he announced an initial $200m investment for infrastructure purposes, although he did enhance his shareholding in the club from 25 per cent to 27.7 per cent in doing so.

On top of that, Ratcliffe ran counter to the Glazers in other ways; he appeared in media interviews, he spoke of ambitious plans for the club’s stadium, he attended games, he addressed staff at the club’s stadium and training ground. INEOS talked of a football-first strategy, the inference being that the club’s priorities may have been elsewhere previously. An energy all of a sudden coursed through a club that had previously been decaying inside and out.

From the start, Ratcliffe has not been shy about his thoughts on the direction the club had been heading in before his arrival. He told the previous management team what he thought of their decisions in the transfer market when he first met them at Old Trafford. It baffled INEOS that United could drive so much in revenue yet still contrive to be a loss-making enterprise. For the year ending June 30, the club made £661.8m but lost £113.2m.

And so came the cuts. No more company credit cards. No Christmas party for staff. No free bus travel for staff attending the FA Cup final. A redundancy drive that aimed to cut 250 jobs. Ending Ferguson’s £2m-per-year ambassadorial role. Consideration was given to halving the club’s £40,000 annual contribution to their Disabled Supporters’ Association.

This week, news emerged that the club is now introducing a mid-season change to ticket pricing for matches at Old Trafford. United informed members of their fans forum that all remaining tickets for home matches this season will be priced at £66 each, meaning no concessions will be applied for pensioners or children. The club told the supporters it would help improve “operational efficiencies” and “stabilise revenues”. The club also stated that all tickets returned by season-ticket holders for individual games will be sold at the adult price and that the 25 per cent discount for Europa League knockout fixtures would also be removed.

The Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) said: “This means that for an adult member to take their kid to a game in the remainder of this season will cost £132. Well over double the minimum price they could pay to do it today. And this change is happening overnight, immediately.

“The club has provided zero consultation on the matter, neither with the Forum nor the Fan Advisory Board nor MUST.”

Supporter groups are unlikely to let this matter drop, largely because of fears that if they do so, tweaks to concessions made mid-season may become permanent arrangements moving forward. United are not making any commitments currently to keeping season-ticket prices unchanged for next season.

Everyone may ask how, exactly, it is putting the “Manchester” back into Manchester United to slash jobs from Mancunians and hike ticket prices for local kids, or how INEOS are a “beacon” of a “fan-centred” approach when this latest decision was taken without consultation. 

INEOS may be scrimping around the edges, saving here, cutting there, the ultimate limiting factor for United’s ability to make money in recent years has not been Linda in sponsorship, or a discounted ticket for 10-year-old Charlie, but rather the club’s defining inability to successfully trade players effectively, too often recruiting and selling first-team players at a far less impressive rate than their rivals. 

His defenders would say Ratcliffe is doing what is needed to turn a failing club around and it is going to take time and require patience from fans.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Threat of financial calamity removed from Baggies

West Bromwich Albion had effectively been in decline ever since the club was sold to a Chinese consortium in August 2016, paying a figure north of £200m to buy former owner Jeremy Peace’s stake. Controlling shareholder Guochuan Lai’s ownership was fairly disastrous for the club, but his unloved tenure finally came to an end after Bilkul Football WBA, a company ultimately owned by Florida-based entrepreneur Shilen Patel and his father Dr Kiran Patel, acquired an 87.8% shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Limited, the parent company of West Bromwich Albion Football Club. This change in ownership was urgently required, due to the numerous financial problems facing West Brom, including growing high-interest debt and serious cash flow concerns, following years of no investment from the former owner. Indeed, West Brom’s auditors had already rung the alarm bell in the 2021/22 accounts when they cast doubt on the club’s ability to continue as a going concern without making player s...
1 comment
Read more

Fulham requires big funding from owner

After lengthy delays, Fulham’s shiny, new Riverside Stand has finally opened, creating “a unique Thameside destination with first class facilities for supporters and partners on match days, as well as for the wider community year-round”. This ambitious project has increased Craven Cottage’s capacity by around 4,000 to 29,600, while it has also taken advantage of the club’s fantastic location and wealthy catchment area by including two Michelin star restaurants, a rooftop swimming pool, corporate hospitality and event space, all benefiting from views of the Thames. Chief executive Alistair Mackintosh observed, “Fulham is the sort of club that can have a business class or first class and have fans that turn left on a plane.” Indeed, there is also an exclusive members club – with a football season ticket as an optional extra. It’s fair to say that “the times they are a-changing”, as this is a long way from the traditional pie and a pint. However, in a world where clubs face the tw...
Post a Comment
Read more

A poor financial record, but new hope at Everton

I recently saw an amusing video online in which a group of Everton fans were rebuked in jest for being hopeful.  Football fans in general tend to swing between excessive optimism and excessive pessimism, but for many it seems that moaning is in their bloodstream (Spurs fans probably take the trophy).  However, Everton fans have had plenty to moan about on and off the pitch.   Let’s hope that a new era is about to begin for this grand old club. Everton’s 2023/24 financial results covered a fairly momentous season, when they ended up 15th in the Premier League, though they would finished three places higher if they had not received an 8-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). It was a worrying time for Everton fans, as the club faced a “perfect storm” of issues, including large financial losses, an ever increasing debt burden, a challenging stadium build and the tortuous sale of the club. There were eve...
Post a Comment
Read more