The Christmas party has also been cancelled
Staff at Manchester United have seen their annual Christmas bonus of £100 replaced by a £40 voucher for Marks & Spencer.
The move is the latest part of Jim Ratcliffe’s radical cost-cutting at the club since he took control of football operations at Old Trafford on Christmas Eve last year.
In August, some 250 people at Man United were made redundant. This, along with other spending cuts, had apparently led many staff to assume they would not be getting any form of bonus this year.
When the Glazer family ran the club, staff received a bonus of £100 every year in the lead-up to Christmas.
But this year, the bonus has been reduced to a £40 voucher at high street retailer M&S, the Daily Mail reports.
One member of staff told the publication that “it’s worse now” than under the Glazers, whilst another said: “At least the Glazers prioritised families.”
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The decision to reduce the festive bonus comes after the club’s Christmas party was cancelled. The club hierarchy decided that a festive party would be inappropriate following a year of redundancies.
In previous years, the club has held a party in Manchester for its 1,100 workforce in a marquis in the West Car Park at the stadium, at Old Trafford Cricket Ground and Victoria Warehouse.
Along with the job losses, Ratcliffe has also been criticised in recent weeks for raising ticket prices at Old Trafford to a minimum of £66 for the rest of this season.
Over the weekend, it was also announced that Dan Ashworth had left his role as sporting director at United after just 159 days in the job.
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