Billionaire Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has reportedly cut payments to the club’s own charity, the Manchester United Foundation, in another cost-cutting move
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to cut the funding provided to the club’s own charity in another cost cutting exercise.
Ratcliffe has embarked on a programme of austerity at the club with the INEOS billionaire having made masses of redundancies whilst also cutting the benefits available to the staff who remain at Old Trafford. The decisions have sparked an outcry on social media, with United receiving plenty of backlash for hitting the pockets of their staff despite having made a number of poor financial decisions in paying huge transfer fees this summer, as well as having to pay out compensation to sack Erik ten Hag and sporting director Dan Ashworth.
INEOS have also been criticised for raising ticket prices by supporters, as well as not taking supporting the women’s team seriously, with Ratcliffe having branded it “an opportunity but not a priority”.
And it has now been reported Ratcliffe is set to cut the funding provided by United to the Manchester United Foundation. According to Sky News, United will cut the money they pay their own charitable arm, which totalled close to £1million last year from 2025 onwards.
While sources inside Old Trafford claim they will still provide “significant” support to the Foundation, Sky News have also reported the opposite, adding a substantial amount of the funding given to the charity will be cut.
The decision was made by the club’s INEOS-backed leadership group, with the Foundation set to find out just how much they will stand to lose from their own club in the coming weeks.
In 2023, United paid the Foundation close to £175,000 for their charity services, which include distributing signed merchandise to individuals raising money for charitable causes. They also provided gifts in kind totalling £665,000 over the last year too.
While United declined to comment on the plans to cut the funding to the charity, a spokesperson for Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), blasted the cost cutting measure. They said: “The prospect of cuts to the charitable Foundation are another depressing example of the wrong priorities at United, cutting back on support to the community it purports to serve.
“Financial sustainability is important but instead of further investment to show ambition and go for growth, the Club is counter-productively trying to cut its way out of its problems.
“It’s hard not to conclude that the negative atmosphere they’re breeding is feeding its way through to the equally depressing performances on the field.”