Man Utd’s mistakes have plunged them into the red – and it’s about to get worse | OneFootball

Getting sacked by Manchester United can be a lucrative business. For a select few, anyway. Not for the 250 staff who were laid off by Sir Jim Ratcliffe last year or, in all probability, for those fearing for their jobs now. United insist another redundancy program is merely one of the options being considered as a club that has invariably been loss-making since Covid seeks to cut costs and break even.

But if the financial results of a club that still – with a projected income of up to £670m for the current year – can be a money-making machine often make for grim reading, there tends to be a telling detail in the small print. “Exceptional items” tends to cover pay-offs. As United announced a loss of £27.7m for the second quarter of the financial year, and the last three months of 2024, exceptional items came to £14.5m; more than half of that loss, as even those with a rudimentary grasp of maths may work out.

And much of that £14.5m are the funds given to Erik ten Hag and his staff after their exit; some £10.4m of it. A further £4.1m reflects the swift departure of Dan Ashworth, the man described by Ratcliffe as one of the best sporting directors in the world and then dismissed after five months at Old Trafford. With a fine sense of timing, United’s second quarter results emerged a few hours after an interview with Raphael Varane was published in which the defender said he was surprised Ten Hag was given a new contract after winning the FA Cup. So were many others: the Dutchman was sacked four months into his extended deal.

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Dan Ashworth and Erik ten Hag were expensive to hire and fire (PA)

Ashworth, meanwhile, probably merits sympathy after being discarded so swiftly. Yet that may be mitigated by the size of his severance package. After several months of gardening leave, when employed by Newcastle, he is again finding that doing nothing can boost the bank balance. Most of the victims of the Ratcliffe cull have a rather different experience.

That £4.1m includes some of the cost of acquiring Ashworth. But not all: the compensation for Newcastle, along with the €11m cost of Ruben Amorim’s release clause at Sporting, and bringing him in within the 30-day notice period, are being amortised. They will remain a drag on the books for a while longer.

Ashworth ranks as an expensive mistake; either United were wrong to hire him or he actually is among the best at his job and they were wrong to fire him.

Many an innocent party can feel they are paying the price for the mistakes of the United hierarchy, past and present. Staff are fearing for their jobs; some will lose theirs. Ratcliffe’s plans for £66 tickets continue to go down badly; he can argue that an £80m cash investment by Ineos has improved the club’s financial position and helped repay some of a revolving credit facility.

But the Manchester United Supporters Trust made the reasonable point that “big increases in ticket prices would be futile and counterproductive”, saying: “Fans should not pay the price for a problem that starts with our crippling debt interest payments and is exacerbated by a decade or more of mismanagement.”

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The Glazer family have drained money out of the club to leverage their buyout in 2005 (Getty Images)

United have now had two decades of debt repayments and interest and refinancing charges since the Glazers’ takeover. Now they can lament a dozen years of footballing choices of a club with an awful record in the transfer market and a habit of paying their players far more than they are worth. United’s amortisation costs, of £49.4m for a three-month period, reflect far more than just Amorim and Ashworth. They shine a light on the arrivals of Antony and Casemiro and Mason Mount and a host of other bad buys.

Meanwhile, employee benefit costs were down £12.6m to £82.5m, though even that was an indication of failure: United’s players are paid more in seasons when they compete in the Champions League. And one of the best paid of all, Casemiro, has claimed he is happy at the club and not looking to leave. United are lumbered with his salary for a further 16 months.

By then, their income could be considerably lower. Fifteenth now, they are on course to miss out on plenty of Premier League prize money. United’s only routes back into Europe would involve winning the FA Cup or the Europa League – the latter would bring a return to the Champions League. A year without continental competition and with fewer games to bring matchday revenue at Old Trafford would bring a dual hit.

Given how dismal results have been in a season shaped by the managerial choices of the Ratcliffe regime – first in keeping Ten Hag, then in opting for Amorim as his replacement – what can look bad decisions have both a footballing and a financial penalty. Having paid over the odds to take a 27.7 per cent share in the club and invest in its infrastructure, Ratcliffe can say he has shown his commitment to the club. But as the bleak news mounts up, as the details of the needless losses are made public, supporters and staff are entitled to feel they suffer for the mistakes made by players, managers, executives and owners.