Manchester United continues their shakeup behind the scenes under Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The British billionaire recently took over the team’s operations when he purchased a minority stake in the club. It was previously revealed that Ratcliffe wanted to fire around 250 employees to cut costs. This figure represents about 20% of their entire workforce. The move should save the Red Devils around $12 million.
Many of these soon-to-be-released employees were initially expected to be non-football staff. Nevertheless, the job cuts at Manchester United now include several long-term academy coaches. The Telegraph claims that “a number” of these youth coaches will soon lose their jobs. Sources at the news outlet also understand that these coaches feel blindsided by the decision.
Many feel “upset,” “shocked” and “angry” at the cost-cutting call. These academy coaches showed up for work as usual on Tuesday. They entered unscheduled individual meetings to discuss their future at the club. In other words, the coaches learned the club may sack them.
Arguably the two most prominent youth coaches affected are Stuart Leicester and Neil Harris. The duo has been with the club for over two decades, and they are top figures within the organization.
Leicester previously collected the Coaching Chain trophy at the 2020 UK Coaching Awards for developing Marcus Rashford. Harris received the award as well and also received credit from Axel Tuanzebe for giving the youngster stellar advice during his time at the academy.
According to the news outlet, Chris Sims, Rick Ashcroft, Chris Backhouse, and Graham Buckingham are also at risk as well. The latter coach recently won a staff award and has been with the Red Devils for 34 years.
United has undoubtedly underperformed on the pitch since Sir Alex Ferguson retired back in 2013. They have not collected a Premier League or Champions League title since this time.
However, the club’s academy has regularly produced quality young players in recent years. This lengthy list includes Rashford and Tuanzebe, but also Kobbie Mainoo, Alejandro Garnacho, Scott McTominay, Anthony Elanga, and Dean Henderson.
The unpopular moves face backlash from those around the sport. They are, however, not the only questionable calls at the club since Ratcliffe entered the fray. The billionaire has received plenty of heat lately for his handling of United’s women’s team.
The women’s team previously learned of their annual awards party’s cancelation via social media. Ratcliffe then told Bloomberg that his sole focus rests with the men’s senior side at the moment. Various reports also recently claimed that the situation with the women’s team was a “mess” at the moment. Players even described feeling “disregarded” compared to others at rival clubs.
It is safe to say that Ratcliffe has not become a popular figure in some areas of United’s setup. He is, however, attempting to woo fans by splashing the cash on several top transfer targets. The club has already spent over $113 million on highly-rated tandem Joshua Zirkzee and Leny Yoro. They are also currently monitoring Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte and Dutch center-back Matthijs de Ligt.
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