Frank Robinson, who was a steward at Old Trafford for 24 years, decided to leave Manchester United last year due to the treatment of staff by Sir Jim Ratcliffe
A steward has left revealed he left working for Manchester United due to the treatment of staff by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Frank Robinson, 67, had worked at Old Trafford as a steward for 24 years, but decided to call time on working for United due to how badly Ratcliffe has treated the current workforce. The INEOS billionaire has embarked on a cost cutting mission at Old Trafford since he arrived as a co-owner of the club, something which has gone down poorly with supporters.
Ratcliffe has raised ticket prices, enforced mass redundancies and cut the funding to the United Foundation, their own charity wing. When it comes to Robinson and the rest of the stewards at Old Trafford, they have seen the club axe a 10-match £100 bonus they used to receive, something which has not gone down well with them.
“A lot of stewards are leaving since Ratcliffe came in,” Robinson, who has quit working for the club after 24 years, told the I. “Up until last year they used to get an attendance bonus. Every 10 matches we did, we got a £100 bonus. Now they said you’re not having that. So they stopped that completely.
“For many years you’d have a steward of the week, someone nominated or fans wrote in and said how well this steward had done. You got £50 for that. Now they still have steward of the week, but they have no award.”
Robinson added: “It’s very petty for a football club. You’re pinching off people at the bottom of the ladder.”
So poor has Ratcliffe and INEOS treated United’s stewards, Robinson believes he and his former colleagues were being placed up in the top tier of Old Trafford’s North Stand, in an effort to demoralise them into quitting so the club can hire more agency staff.
“Supervisors and stewards who’ve been at United for years are packing it in,” Robinson added.
“Some stewards in their 70s, they’re putting them into the top tier of the North Stand because they know they won’t like it and they’ll leave. They can bring more agency staff in. They’re trying to force them out.”
“They are getting rid of stewards and replacing them with untrained, unqualified agency staff. There’s no overheads with agency staff, no training, no uniforms, nobody having to work wages and holiday out.”