With the partial takeover of Man United by Sir Jim Ratcliffe expected to be ratified soon, a large number of staff members at Old Trafford will be looking over their shoulders.
That’s because, according to Football Insider, the new owner is looking to slash the workforce by about 100 once he takes over, believing that many departments at the Red Devils are overstaffed.
Taking such a huge and decisive step as one of the first acts of his tenure will indicate to everyone else that he means business and they will all have to up the ante.
It wasn’t long ago that United were considered best in class, but they’ve long since been formidable on or off the pitch.
Clearly, Sir Jim and his INEOS team are taking things very seriously indeed as they look to try and restore the club to the top table of domestic and European football.
Sorting things out on the pitch will take time and won’t happen overnight, even if the new owners are able to put certain ways of working in place as soon as they take charge.
Behind the scenes is a different story, however, and if the club can streamline their operations in that regard, it can only be a positive move.
It won’t make Sir Jim very popular about the place, but then he hasn’t become a billionaire by being someone that everyone likes.
In order to be successful difficult decisions have to be made, and they haven’t been for far too long at Manchester United.
Nothing new here, Ratcliffe has streamlined nearly if not all businesses he has acquired to make them profitable. I only hope that he is behind United’s statement that they are fully behind UEFA and their competitions. It’s no surprise that the two main supporters of the new Superleague are Barcelona and Real Madrid, two clubs who have had serious financial issues lately. I am sure if it was left to the GLASERS the decision would be different.