Due to Manchester United’s dismal start to the 2024–25 Premier League season, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has received harsh criticism.
The United co-owner’s ownership of the Red Devils was confirmed in 2024, and the 72-year-old British tycoon acquired a minority position in the Premier League team in 2023.
As part of the partial ownership, Ratcliffe’s Ineos team took over Old Trafford’s football operations, and the Red Devils suffered significant cuts in critical areas.
The Ineos and Ratcliffe administration laid off some 250 United employees in 2024 as part of the first set of cost-cutting measures.
During the current Premier League season, United also raised the cost of matchday tickets, a move that infuriated Red Devils supporters. Ratcliffe and Co.
have also announced plans to reduce the salary of other club legends and remove Sir Alex Ferguson from his ambassadorial contract. Just last month, the Premier League team said on Manchester United’s official website that up to 200 more positions could be eliminated at the Red Devils.
Jordan on Ratcliffe and Ineos
In December of last year, Sir Jim Ratcliffe upped his ownership position in Manchester United. The Ineos chief’s holding went from 27.7% to 28.94%.
Even though Red Devils supporters strongly object to the Glazers’ contentious ownership of United, they still own a controlling stake in the Premier League team.
According to Simon Jordan, “no-one” discusses the Glazers these days, and Ratcliffe, the manager of Ineos, has “done them a solid” by diverting attention from them.
Speaking in his column for The Daily Mail, he said: “I don’t know Sir Jim Ratcliffe personally, so can’t say whether being in the papers endlessly feeds his ego, but sometimes you have to remember it’s the Glazers, not him, who are majority shareholders of Manchester United.
“No-one talks about the Glazers now, so Ratcliffe has done them a solid because he has become the story.
“Ineos are trying to get out of other sports-related deals, but I’ve not heard they are struggling as a commercial operation so don’t think it is a case of Ratcliffe running out of cash.
“If he’s making redundancies at United it will be to save money, not because they haven’t got any.”
Jordan talks Ratcliffe and Man Utd cost-cutting
Since Ineos joined United at Old Trafford, Ratcliffe and company have made significant modifications to the club’s back-end football system.
United closed their worker canteen last month and replaced it with a complimentary piece of fruit. Additionally, working from home was discontinued in 2024.
Negatively for United and implied that those who are not interested in football will “look at aspects” very “differently” once they start playing.
“I don’t feel there is going to be a car crash at United, although in football normal business vagaries don’t always exist because some silly b—— at the top is always going to write a cheque to cover somebody else’s shortcomings,” he continued.
“Successful people from outside can come into the sport and look at aspects of it differently.
“More often than not, despite making initial inroads into adopting better business practices inside their new shiny assets, they learn to move the needle slightly and get on with it, even if what they have paid for something isn’t worth it, either economically or emotionally.”