Man Utd 'to target club's own charity' as Jim Ratcliffe's brutal cost-cutting continues

Manchester United will reportedly slash funding granted to their charitable partner the MU Foundation as Jim Ratcliffe’s brutal cost-cutting continues. The United co-owner has spent his first year in charge attempting to bring down the club’s expenditure to save funds.

Ratcliffe has made unpopular decisions such as cancelling the staff Christmas party, ending some staff perks and overseeing a string of redundancies. Earlier this month, it was revealed that a bonus handed to stewards was also to be cut.

According to Sky News, the Manchester United Foundation is now in the firing line. It is claimed that the Premier League club plans to inform trustees of the charity that it intends to curb the benefits it provides from 2025 onwards.

The benefits given by the club to the charity totalled nearly £1million last year. The report claims that club sources insist the charity will still receive significant support.

In 2023, the MU Foundation received nearly £175,000 from the club for charity services, which include managing the distribution of signed merchandise to individuals raising funds for charitable causes. It also received £665,000 in gifts from United.

It is understood that gifts included use of the Old Trafford pitch and other facilities, free club merchandise and the use of back-office services such as the club’s IT capabilities.

The MU Foundation engages with underprivileged and marginalised groups in communities around Manchester and Salford. It organises hospital visits to support children with life-threatening illnesses. Among its other projects are Street Reds, which is targeted at 8-18-year-olds, and Primary Reds, which works in schools with 5-11-year-olds.

It is claimed that the decision to slash support of the charity was taken at a leadership level.

Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company INEOS now owns close to 29 per cent of United but they have embarked on a series of cost-cutting measures. A report last week claimed that an association created to facilitate relations between former players would see its club funding axed.

A similar move has resulted in the club’s disabled fans’ group having their funding taken away. Hundreds of full-time staff have been made redundant over the past few months.

INEOS have ambitions to build a ‘Wembley of the North’ for United to play their home matches inside. A decision is yet to to taken on whether Old Trafford, the club’s current home, will be redeveloped, or wether an entirely new stadium will be built.