Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe says the club has become “mediocre” and warned more “difficult and unpopular decisions” will be needed to get it back where he wants it to be.
Ratcliffe has come under fire from United fans for scrapping concessions of what the club says are the 3% of tickets that remain unsold for Premier League matches and introducing a minimum price of £66.
The move triggered protests at Old Trafford before last weekend’s victory over Everton.
However, speaking to the respected ‘United We Stand’ fanzine, external, Ratcliffe says the move is aimed at trying to make United better.
“Manchester United has become mediocre,” he said. “It is supposed to be one of the best football clubs in the world.
“We have to make some difficult and unpopular decisions. If you shy away from the difficult decisions, then nothing much is going to change.”
Ratcliffe spoke about a whole range of issues to UWS editor Andy Mitten. His fundamental point is that the club has not been run efficiently.
In the latest accounts, to 30 June 2024, the club announced a net loss of £113.2m. Total losses over the past five years are more than £370m.
Since then, United have sacked Erik ten Hag as manager and replaced him with Ruben Amorim, the former Sporting coach.
Those two decisions alone cost the club £21.4m.
Ten Hag had been handed a contract extension in the summer after a post-season review before being sacked in October.
“I know we get criticism in the press but we do need to challenge the cost of running this club because what I want to be free for us to do is buy really good footballers, not spend so much of the money on infrastructure,” he said.
“We can’t run a business at a loss, which is where United have been in the last couple of years. If you are losing money you have to borrow from the bank to pay for the losses. Eventually that becomes unsustainable.”
Ratcliffe’s part purchase of United, announced on Christmas Eve last year, was welcomed by almost all supporters in the belief he had to be an upgrade on the unpopular Glazer family.
The Americans have handed over virtually all of the football-related decision-making to Ratcliffe and his team, which now includes chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox.
That means the Ineos owner is moving on with talks over potentially building a new stadium, although a decision on that has been pushed into 2025.
It also means he is taking the flak for the unpopular calls he is having to make.
Ratcliffe feels it was a move United had to make, even though he accepts many match-going supporters are from working class parts of Manchester and do not have huge amounts of disposable income.
“I understand that,” he said. “I was brought up on a council estate in Manchester.
“I don’t want to end up in a position where the genuine local fans can’t afford to come but I do want to optimise the ticketing.
“We need to find a balance – and you can’t be popular all the time either. Here, we are talking about 3% of the tickets. I don’t think it makes sense for a Manchester United ticket to cost less than a ticket to see Fulham.”
