Manchester United Announce Billion-Pound Stadium as Sir Jim Makes More Cuts

Staff Writer Isabel Moon-Parry looks back at two turbulent decades of mismanagement at Manchester United, following the club’s announcement of plans for a new stadium.

On 20th February 2024, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS announced the completion of the purchase of 25% of Manchester United from the Glazer family for £1.25bn. As part of the deal, INEOS and Ratcliffe took control of the club’s football operations.

A year on, the club has announced more redundancies, cuts, and the end of free lunch for club staff while their on-pitch performances are their worst in the Premier League era.

At the same time, plans were being drawn up by Ratcliffe and INEOS for a new, multi-billion-pound 100,000 seater stadium to be built that would replace Old Trafford in the heart of Manchester.

So the question is, how did one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, and the fourth highest revenue-generating club in Europe, fall so low?

The End of the Golden Years

In 2005, the Glazer family completed their long-anticipated takeover of Manchester United after paying £790m for the club. Malcolm Glazer, the then-owner of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, purchased his initial 2.9% stake in the club in 2003 and steadily expanded his control over the next two years.

Manchester United supporters immediately rejected the takeover after it became clear that Glazer would purchase the club through borrowed money, saddling the club with almost £300m worth of debt.

And so, the problems and financial mismanagement begin. Shareholders United President at the time, Nick Towle, said, “I’m giving up my season ticket.”

The first visit of the clubs’ new owners in June 2005 saw around 300 fans chanting “die, Glazer, die” as they pelted police vans with missiles. The relationship between the fans and the owners had soured before it could even begin.

Eight years later, in 2013, after winning his 13th Premier League title and guiding Manchester United to a record-extending 20th league title, manager Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement and departure from the club.

The day after Ferguson’s retirement, came the announcement of his successor, fellow Scotsman, David Moyes. And so began a new era for the club and the end of its Golden Age.

The Fall from Grace

The Moyes era started poorly, with the summer transfer window seeing the champions labelled a “laughing stock“. Just one player entered the door at Carrington, Marouane Fellaini, who was purchased for his release clause of £23.5m from Everton. A clause that had been inserted by Moyes himself.

With the club in seventh place and guaranteed to have their lowest points total yet in the Premier League, Moyes was sacked in April 2014 after less than a season in charge. His replacement was Netherlands coach Louis Van Gaal.

Van Gaal’s time in charge was no significant improvement as they finished 4th and 5th in his two seasons in charge before Jose Mourinho was hired in 2016. Mourinho successfully won the Europa League and League Cup in his first season.

However, the £89m signing of Paul Pogba, a player who had come through Manchester United’s academy and then left for free to Juventus, saw them ridiculed. Mourinho was sacked in December 2019 with the team in 6th place.

His successor was club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who led the team to a 2nd-place finish and a Europa League final in 2020/21. Solskjær also oversaw the return of Cristiano Ronaldo in a deadline-day deal in August 2021.

Solskjær was sacked just a few months later, and the club saw out the rest of the season under Ralf Rangnick, who declared that the club needed “open heart surgery” to restore its former glory.

For the 2022/23 season, Erik Ten Hag was appointed as the new manager. Ten Hag would go on to fall out with Ronaldo, who departed the club in November, but he would win a trophy for the side in his first season as they lifted the League Cup and in his second season lifted the FA Cup.

Ten Hag was sacked in October 2024 with Manchester United sitting in 14th place. His severance package reportedly stood at £16m while United would go on to pay a further €10m to pay the release clause of their new manager, Ruben Amorim, from Sporting Lisbon, according to The Athletic.

Financial Mismanagement

Throughout the post-Ferguson era, Manchester United have been characterised by financial mismanagement, in particular with regard to their transfers and wages.

According to transfer aggregator TransferMarkt, since the 2013/14 season, Manchester United has spent €2.14bn on incoming transfers while making just €593m in sales. That total gives them the third highest spend after Manchester City and Chelsea.

Their wage bill is also amongst the highest in the Premier League as of the 2024/25 season, according to Capology, with them spending a reported £173m per annum on player wages alone. Last season’s highest earner, Casemiro, played just 1,494 minutes in the Premier League, while the club’s fourth highest earner, Mason Mount, played just 622 minutes.

Meanwhile, Marcus Rashford, who is reportedly on £300,000 per week, spent half of the season on loan to Aston Villa, who finished above United in the league and qualified for European football.

According to the club’s 2024 financial accounts, the side made a loss of around £113.2 million, compared to a loss of just £28.7 million in 2023. Much of the reason for this is derived from an increase in amortisation (the gradual write-off of a player’s transfer costs over the length of their contract), employee benefit expenses and the disposal of intangible assets.

The INEOS Era: Cuts, Layoffs and Interviews

In an attempt to mend and solve the issues caused by the financial mismanagement of Manchester United, the new INEOS leadership has begun making cuts in significant areas.

On Monday, 10th March, Sir Jim Ratcliffe sat down with Manchester United legend, Gary Neville, via the Overlap. In the interview, Ratcliffe criticised the club’s financial mismanagement, highlighting the players United are still paying for, “This summer [2025]…we’re buying Antony this summer, we’re buying Sancho this summer, we’re buying Højlund, we’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying Onana.” And revealed that the club will need to pay £89m in the summer of 2025, out of a total of £390m in transfer debt.

Ratcliffe also called the appointment of Dan Ashworth as Sporting Director at the club an “error”, saying that “it didn’t work.” The error was certainly an expensive one, with £4.1m being paid to him in compensation after he was sacked just months after being hired.

On TalkSport in January, Alex Crook declared that “It’s the toxicity that INEOS have created, the redundancies, getting rid of Sir Alex’s ambassadorial role, cutting Christmas bonuses, cutting money for former players, cutting funding for the charity.”

Some also criticised the £60m signing of Matteus Cunha amidst the cutting of staff.

Others said they don’t “recognise Manchester United anymore”.

The New Old Trafford

On the morning of Tuesday, 11th March, Manchester United officially confirmed plans for the construction of a new 100,000 seater stadium in the Old Trafford area. The stadium, designed by Foster + Partners, is set to create 92,000 new jobs and generate an additional £7.3 billion for the UK economy annually, according to Manchester United.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe said in the press statement announcing the stadium that “Our current stadium has served us brilliantly for the past 115 years, but it has fallen behind the best arenas in world sport.”

This announcement, of course, comes after the widespread reports of water leaks at Old Trafford last year. In addition, the food hygiene rating at the stadium was lowered to two stars in December after the discovery of mouse droppings during a recent inspection.

Getting Worse Before Getting Better

Having finished their 2024/25 season in 15th place and falling to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final, Manchester United have once again not only missed out on Champions League football but will also not play in Europe at all next season. These failures only amplify their financial problems.

United gained €36m in prize money according to football finance expert, Swiss Ramble, by getting to the Europa League final, but will go into next season knowing they will receive no funds from Europe.

Manchester United’s newest kit deal with Adidas has a clause inserted that should the club fail to make Champions League football for two consecutive seasons, the annual value of the deal reduces by 30%. Given that the team failed to qualify for the Champions League in 2023/24 and 2024/25, this clause has now kicked in.

The club has also seen a drastic reduction in merit payments, the money paid out by the Premier League to each team based on their final position in the table. By finishing in 15th place, Manchester United will have seen a loss of nearly £20m compared to 2023/24.

With the continued loss of money, the lack of European football next season, and more layoffs, it is difficult to see how Manchester United can overcome their current problems. 2025/26 is likely to be another hard season for the team, both on and off the pitch.