MANCHESTER UNITED are set to axe up to 200 more staff in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s latest brutal cost-cutting move.
The British billionaire paid £1billion for 27.7 per cent of the club last year and has since gone to desperate measures to fix finances at Old Trafford.
The Sun understands that between 100-200 employees will be sacked in his latest bid to reduce costs.
All departments are at risk of seeing their numbers slashed.
A source exclusively told The Sun: “Ultimately, football is a business but there are hundreds of people who work tirelessly behind-the-scenes who contribute to any club’s success.
“Morale is already on the floor after last year’s job losses. This will come as another big blow.”
It comes after Ratcliffe made 250 of the 1,150 workforce redundant in July.
Man Utd have lost £300million across the past three years and despite cash injected by the Ineos regime, the long-term picture remains “challenging”.
Ratcliffe is determined to bring the glory days back to the club and is willing to transform things on and off the pitch to do so.
Man Utd are understood to be exploring every option to save money and increase revenue.
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But the news comes just a day after the New Zealand rugby team sued Ineos for “failing to pay sponsorship fees.”
Ratcliffe’s controversial first year at United included raising ticket prices, getting rid of Sir Alex Ferguson from his £2.16m per year ambassador role and cancelling the staff Christmas party.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Man Utd reveal first pics of redeveloped 100,000-capacity Old Trafford in ‘biggest regeneration scheme ever seen'” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6362357388112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]He even ended the £40,000 donation to a fund that helped ex-Man Utd players after retirement and replaced staff’s £100 festive bonus with a £40 M&S voucher.
Senior members of the behind-the-scenes team saw their company credit cards and private cars cancelled.
And when Man Utd made the FA Cup final in May, Ratcliffe ended staff perks like free travel, food, a party and accommodation for the trip Wembley.
All while there has been little to cheer on the pitch this season, with the team languishing in 13th in the table.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D106248%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]Manager Ruben Amorim even admitted relegation was a “possibility” earlier this season and called his side the “worst United team in history“.
The club announced at the end of last year that they were going to scrap concessions and hike ticket prices to a minimum of £66 each for members – the most expensive lowest price in the Premier League.
It led to fierce criticism from club legends like Paul Scholes and fans protested with banners that read: “Stop exploiting loyalty.”
Supporters also vented their anger at Ratcliffe after their 1-0 win over Fulham three weeks ago, with X-rated chants and a confrontation with the owner as he left the stadium at full-time.
United have still spent heavily in the transfer market, splashing £190million on new players in the summer.
But there are concerns over breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules should more work not go into balancing the books.
Ratcliffe, meanwhile, has grand plans to build a new stadium dubbed the “Wembley of the North”.
The government has backed the proposed project to redevelop the Old Trafford area and construct a 100,000-seater ground.