When Sir Jim Ratcliffe took part ownership of Manchester United, he took no prisoners, speaking frankly about the state of affairs at the club.
He was unhappy with various departments and processes and the result was a complete club audit conducted by his right-hand man, Sir Dave Brailsford.
The consequence of that audit was seen immediately, as the usually lethargic United, under the Glazer rule, woke up.
There have been almost weekly diktats from the new ownership related to all arms of the club, from staffing to culture to architecture, and more.
Not all have been universally popular, like, for example, redesigning the iconic Old Trafford tunnel, but Ineos clearly think they’re necessary.
The next decision has arrived and it is sure to divide opinions like no other so far…
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s ruthlessness on display again
The Athletic reports that United told the club staff at lunchtime on Wednesday (July 3) that they intend to make a wave of redundancies.
Up to 250 staff jobs are expected to be cut in this wave as the new regime stresses on cutting costs after auditing the club operations.
Interpath Advisory firm was hired by the new part-owners to review the structure and processes at the club and this decision came on their suggestion.
These cuts are expected to be finalised before the start of the season and will impact all departments and levels within the organisation.
The club’s charitable arm, Manchester United Foundation is not expected to see any changes to their operations.
This decision comes on the heels of previous acts by Ineos to cut costs through redundancies in non-playing personnel. They had offered voluntary redundancy at the start of June and ordered everyone back into offices as well.
The report states that the voluntary redundancy offer had low take-up which could be why Ineos are taking direct steps to address it now.
Unpopular decision, but a necessary one?
This decision will not go down with many as non-playing staff wages dwarf in comparison to the millions in wages that players, many of them underperforming, have been taking home each week.
While that is completely understandable, there is context that might explain the decision in a better way.
United currently have 1,112 members of staff on their books, vastly outnumbering their rivals. Liverpool have the second-highest workforce at 1,008 while Manchester City operate with a base of just 520 employees.
Arsenal’s figure stands at 689 while Brentford, at the other end of the spectrum, employ only 243 people, including the playing/coaching staff.
A “jobs for boys” culture at United has been criticised by pundits and experts earlier and Ineos believe that by streamlining operations and making them efficient, they can get better results while improving the revenue.
Ineos have made many popular decisions since taking over but decisions like these will always divide opinion. Ultimately, results on the pitch are the biggest way fans will be satisfied but not many will ever support people losing their jobs.