Jim Ratcliffe
Jim Ratcliffe and Omar Berrada continue to oversee cuts at Manchester United
Manchester United’s decision to make up to another 200 employees redundant is at odds with the rest of Europe’s big clubs according to a new UEFA report.
The governing body’s Club Finance and Investment Landscape review says that full-time staff at clubs has increased by a third since 2019 - with commercial revenues the biggest driving factor.
And while United had the highest number of workers (1,140) among Premier League clubs in 2024, they were fifth in Europe - behind Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Zenit St Petersburg and Real Madrid.
Brighton and Hove Albion were next on 1,051, with Liverpool and Manchester City among nine clubs across UEFA to have more than a thousand.
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Chelsea had 958 as of last year with Arsenal having 826 and Tottenham Hotspur 820. More than 11,000 were employed across all 20 of last season’s Premier League clubs.
“The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees at top-division clubs increased 6% in 2023 to just under 90,000,” the report said.
“A further 6% FTE increase in 2024 means that clubs now have 33% more FTEs than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
“Given that the core activity (number of matches played) did not change between 2019 and 2023, this FTE increase highlights the increasing importance of commercial revenue generation, where servicing partnerships, promoting events and connecting to supporters is resource heavy and costly, in direct contrast to TV or UEFA revenue, which require minimal FTEs directly at the clubs.
Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada announced fresh cuts last month.
Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada announced fresh cuts last month.
“The second factor is the increased investment of clubs in recruitment and technical development.”
United last month confirmed a fresh round of redundancies with chief executive Omar Berrada saying: “We have a responsibility to put Manchester United in the strongest position to win across our men’s, women’s and academy teams.
"We are initiating a wide-ranging series of measures which will transform and renew the club.
"Unfortunately, this means announcing further potential redundancies and we deeply regret the impact on those affected colleagues. However, these hard choices are necessary to put the club back on a stable financial footing.”
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