Sir Jim Ratcliffe was in attendance at the San Mames Stadium on Wednesday night alongside Manchester United owner Avram Glazer as Ruben Amorim's side were beaten by Tottenham in the Europa League final
13:18, 22 May 2025
BILBAO, SPAIN - MAY 21: Manchester United Co-Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe looks on at the end of the UEFA Europa League Final 2025 between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at Estadio de San Mames on May 21, 2025 in Bilbao, Spain. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
Sir Jim Ratcliffe was 'booed' by Man Utd staff(Image: undefined via Getty Images)
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was reportedly booed by club staff during a screening of the Europa League final.
The Red Devils suffered defeat at the hands of Tottenham in Bilbao, marking a disappointing end to an already dismal season. This marks Ratcliffe's first full season as the controlling co-owner of the club since taking sporting control from the Glazers.
Since his takeover, he has implemented a brutal series of job cuts, resulting in 250 staff members leaving the club. Further redundancies are anticipated over the summer months, and club legends have seen their ambassador contracts terminated. Ratcliffe also chose not to invite any staff members to Bilbao to witness the final in person.
Instead, a screening of the match was set up back in Manchester for the club's staff. They watched on as Ruben Amorim's team failed to reply after falling behind to Brennan Johnson's scrappy first-half goal.
Adding insult to injury for Ratcliffe, he was present at the San Mames Stadium. The British billionaire was given the task of presenting the medals alongside Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.
BILBAO, SPAIN - MAY 21: Ruben Amorim, Manager of Manchester United, embraces Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Co-owner of Manchester United following the UEFA Europa League Final 2025 between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United at Estadio de San Mames on May 21, 2025 in Bilbao, Spain. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Ratcliffe handed out the medals after the Europa League final(Image: undefined via Getty Images)
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As a result of this role, Ratcliffe was caught on camera multiple times. According to The Athletic, this led to staff at the Manchester screening booing whenever Ratcliffe and fellow owner Avram Glazer appeared on screen.
The crowd of 1,000, comprised of employees and their family members, reportedly booed once during the game and again at full-time. The atmosphere at the Direcast venue was described as 'very sombre'.
Old Trafford staff are on edge after chief executive Omar Berrada's February announcement that future redundancies hinge on Europa League qualification for the next four seasons.
Manager Amorim has openly acknowledged he might be sacked, stating he'd leave without a fuss if Ratcliffe deems him unsuitable for the role. "It's in the future, I'm not going to talk about the future. This loss, the pain of losing this match. I can see it was clear, we were the better team but then we managed not to score again, so it's very hard to win football matches," he expressed.
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"But the guys tried everything to win the game. In the future, we will have time to assess everything. We have to see. We have to see. I know everything that you did [say], I said before you. In this moment, I'm not going to be here defending myself. It's not my style.
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"In this moment it's a little bit of faith, so let's see. If the board and the fans feel I'm not the right guy, I will go in the next day without any conversation about compensation, but I will not quite.
"Again, I'm really confident about my job and, as you can see, I will not change nothing in the way I do things. I think I was always really honest with you guys. We didn't perform perfect today, but we were better than the opponent, and the opponent also played."