I think they are sailing closer to the wind than the media care to highlight...? From the Guardian.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes his decision to
cut about 200 more jobs at Manchester United is necessary to help the club avoid going bust, the Guardian understands.
The minority owner is said to feel he has little choice other than to take tough measures after United lost £300m over the past three years, but he is confident that acting now can lead to the club being profitable and highly competitive in two years’ time.
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United insiders have said the club would have run out of cash without the $300m (£240m) Ratcliffe injected last year. The
final $100m was paid in December and raised his shareholding to 27.7%. It is understood United’s cash reserves would have run dangerously low without that.
This difficult financial position is the reason why the Glazers, the majority owners,
announced a strategic review in November 2022. A club statement at the time said: “As part of this process, the board will consider all strategic alternatives, including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions involving the company.”
This led to Ratcliffe’s purchase of a share in United and he has driven a series of measures to bring down costs. Last summer and autumn he
made about 250 employees redundant and he is driving the plan for this round of about 200 job losses.
www.thetimes.com
