737/5000 The English Premier League giant Manchester United is planning massive job cuts after sacking a quarter of its staff[JIAYU]

Manchester United's layoff plan

Following the meeting on July 3, billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Manchester United board announced that around 250 of the club's 1,100-strong staff would be cut. The move marks the Ineos Group's first major restructuring since taking over Old Trafford in a bid to optimise operations and reduce costs.

The job cuts will be spread across a number of divisions and Ineos Group hopes to maximise cost savings through this measure while focusing resources on the development of its first-line team. The 250 job cuts are expected to save United tens of millions of dollars, which will be used to make the team more competitive.

United are also subject to the Premier League's Profitability and Sustainability (PSR) rules. As of June 30, 2023, Manchester United had 1,112 employees, the most of any Premier League club.

By contrast, the other "big six" clubs have significantly smaller staff numbers: about 1,005 at Liverpool, 788 at Chelsea, 719 at Tottenham and 649 at Arsenal, while Manchester City have only 520 across all departments combined.

Ineos Group believes that the large size of the staff does not necessarily reflect the strength of the club at the competitive level. United finished eighth in the Premier League last season, the worst position in the Premier League era, and a 31-point gap between Manchester City and the leaders.

The cuts have been agreed by the Glazer family, who are the club's main shareholders. The affected employees will receive layoff notices in the coming weeks.

It is worth noting that the Manchester United Charitable Foundation will be the only department not affected by the "downsizing storm".