- United will curb the benefits it provides, which totalled almost £1m last year
- The club have carried out wide-sweeping cuts under their Ineos ownership
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Manchester United are set to slash the funding it provides to its own charity in the latest round of brutal cuts overseen by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, reports claim.
Ratcliffe, who has been dubbed ‘Scrooge’ by some supporters after more controversial cutbacks were enacted during the festive period, has set about penny-pinching in a bid to salvage the club’s dire finances.
According to Sky News, the Manchester United Foundation, their charitable arm, will see its benefits – which totalled close to £1million last year – slashed from 2025.
Sources have told the outlet that a substantial amount of the benefits would be axed although insiders insisted United would still provide ‘significant’ support.
The decision is said to have been made by the club’s leadership team and the Foundation will be informed about the extent of the cuts over the coming weeks.
The charity works with local communities around Manchester and uses ‘football to engage and inspire young people to build a better life for themselves’, according to its website. It also delivers educational and community outreach programmes.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been criticised for brutal cost-cutting measures at Manchester United
The club are reportedly set to reduce the benefits it gives to its charitable arm from 2025 (pictured: Harry Maguire posing with a supporter during a MU Foundation Dream Day in 2022)
United’s dire form off the pitch has increased the scrutiny on the club’s divisive ownership
One project works in school classrooms with children aged from five to 11 while another, named Street Reds, is designed to support eight-to-18 year-olds.
United paid the Foundation almost £175,000 for charity services in 2023 and also provided gifts totalling £665,000 last year. This included use of the pitch and other facilities at Old Trafford as well as free club merchandise.
A club source said it was ‘proud of the work carried out by the Manchester United Foundation to increase opportunities for vulnerable young people across Greater Manchester’ but added ‘all areas of club expenditure are being reviewed’.
‘However, significant support for the Foundation will continue,’ they said.
A spokesperson for the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust 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.’
United declined to formally comment on the proposed cuts to the Foundation.
Wayne Rooney celebrates after scoring during a MU Foundation charity match at Old Trafford
Ratcliffe conducted a root-and-branch financial review after taking a quarter stake in the club
United supporters protested against Ratcliffe after ticket prices were controversially increased
It was reported earlier this week that billionaire Ratcliffe, who carried out a root-and-branch financial review after taking a quarter stake in the club earlier this year, has also cancelled a charity donation for club legends.
United donated £40,000 each year to a not-for-profit set up to help former players but there are now concerns that it will cease to exist.
Red Devils legends such as Bryan Robson, Brian Kidd and Denis Irwin are among the 300 former players the charity, which was set up in 1985, supports.
250 staff members have also been made redundant across the club while people close to United anticipate further cost-cutting measures as early as next month.