Sir Jim Ratcliffe reveals Manchester United would have gone BUST by Christmas without cost-cutting measures | OneFootball

Co-owner insists Red Devils would have run out of money this year without drastic action being taken

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has claimed that Manchester United would have gone bust by Christmas this year were it not for the stringent and contentious cost-cutting measures put in place under his co-ownership reign so far.

Ratcliffe and Ineos have overseen a number of tough decisions aimed at tackling the club’s difficult financial situation since his £1.25billion deal for a 27.7 per cent stake - later increased to 28.94 per cent - at Old Trafford was completed last year, many of which have proven deeply unpopular among supporters and attracted persistent negative headlines, coupled with worsening fortunes on the pitch.

Among the controversial changes on that front at Man Utd include rounds of redundancies, cutting annual contributions to a charity supporting former players, raising ticket prices, ending Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial contract and closing its staff canteen.

Such decisions have been made with the aim of attempting to steer the club onto a better footing, with United having lost more than £300m over the last three years despite being one of the biggest revenue-generating teams on the planet.

Ratcliffe has now laid bare the true extent of the severity of that perilous financial situation, insisting that without such drastic interventions United would have run out of money in 2025.

“Manchester United would have run out of money at the end of this year. November this year, the club runs out of cash,” he told a shocked Gary Neville in an interview on The Overlap.

When Red Devils legend Neville spoke of the disbelief at a club who sits in the top three in the world in terms of revenue generation was now having to cut those charity contributions and remove the staff canteen, Ratcliffe responded: “The alternative isn’t very tenable, is it? Which is the club goes bust at Christmas. We don’t want that. We don’t want that.

“We can’t put our head in the sand. We have to deal with the problem. And it’s a big problem, not a small problem.”

Speaking to the BBC on the same issue, Ratcliffe said: “Manchester United would have run out of cash by the end of this year - by the end of 2025 - after having me put $300m in and if we buy no new players in the summer.

“We are in the process of change and it's an uncomfortable period and disruptive and I do feel sympathy with the fans.

“The simple answer is the club runs out of money at Christmas if we don't do those things.”