'No money left' as Manchester United have 'gone off the rails,' says Jim Ratcliffe, who backs 'good guy' Ruben Amorim

Ineos founder and Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has been speaking openly about the financial malaise at Old Trafford, which has resulted in a huge number of redundancies of late. But he says there are positives, too - not least in the appointment of Ruben Amorim, despite the sticky recent run of results which has left Man Utd just 14th in the league table.

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Jim Ratcliffe has not had an easy time of it since taking over the reins at Manchester United, with his company Ineos buying a minority share last year and taking over football operations as part of the deal.

While it has been the form of the men’s team that is often in the spotlight, Manchester United’s finances have come under scrutiny recently - with mass redundancies coupled with increases in season-ticket prices leading to fan protests outside Old Trafford.

On the pitch, United languish in 14th place in the Premier League table, with just nine wins to show for their campaign.

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Their only chance of silverware this season is in the UEFA Europa League - with their round-of-16 second leg against Real Sociedad being shown live on TNT Sports and discovery+ this Thursday.

Ratcliffe has been speaking to The Times about the situation - and he did not hold back on just how bad the financial outlook is at Old Trafford.

"If you think about Manchester United as a business, it’s gone off the rails. It’s gone off the rails a long way, really," Ratcliffe said.

"If you look at the numbers, the numbers were fairly scary, really. Because they’d sort of lost control, I think, of where the ship was headed. And the costs had got out of control.

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"If you think of it in really simple terms, you’ve got the operating costs, which are all the staff and the fixed costs of running the business. And then you’ve got all the squad costs, player salaries and player purchases.

"In super-simple terms, the club has been spending more money than it’s been earning now for the last seven years, and it ends in a very difficult place.

"And for Manchester United, that place ended at the end of this year, the end of 2025, with the club running out of cash."

Ratcliffe injected £300 million into the club - but even factoring that into the equation, he confirmed that "there’s no money left."

If United cannot improve their form, finishing 14th in the table this season will not help their cause - it is a far cry from the team who were used to winning silverware every year, on the grandest of stages.

They did lift the FA Cup last year, but have not won the Premier League since 2012/13, when Sir Alex Ferguson was still in charge.

"We’re in a period of change. It’s not fun, particularly making the changes. But when we come out the other side, we will be back on the rails," Ratcliffe added, with ‘Mission 21’ the ultimate goal - to win a 21st league title.

One of the changes that garnered plenty of headlines was the decision to remove Ferguson from his consultancy role - to save money. Ratcliffe sat down with the former manager and explained the numbers, with Ferguson walking away from the role as a result.

"He came back three days later, after talking to his son, and said: ‘Fine, I’m going to step away from it. My decision’. I think it reflects really well on Alex, because he put the club before himself," Ratcliffe said, with the parting saving the club £2 million a year.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe of INEOS talks to Sir Alex Ferguson in the directors box

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The savings are reportedly necessary to keep the club afloat, especially with the need to spend on the squad - or United risk falling further behind their rivals.

"This summer we will ‘buy’ Antony, [Jadon] Sancho, Casemiro, [Lisandro] Martinez, [Rasmus] Hojlund and [Andre] Onana and they’re all about £17 million each," Ratcliffe said. "Because that’s what is outstanding [on transfer payments]. If we buy nobody else, we’re buying those players."

Another expense has been the change in management, with Ruben Amorim parachuted in mid-season to replace Erik ten Hag.

Ratcliffe was keen to give his backing to the manager, despite the continued struggles of the men’s team to string a run of results together.

"I think he’s done a great job in the circumstances, frankly, with the squad that he’s had available… Everybody expects miracles overnight," Ratcliffe continued.

"I mean, you saw the performance [against Arsenal]. It was, I thought, a really impressive performance. They could not have worked harder. They couldn’t have been more committed.

"And if you looked at the names on the bench, there weren’t many you recognised, were there? Half the squad’s missing.

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"If you look at the top eight players in terms of salaries in Manchester United, 50% of those are not available to Ruben. You’ve got Mason Mount, you’ve got Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford has gone, and Jadon Sancho.

"And he’s got a bunch of other injuries, as you know, so I think he’s done a fantastic job.

"You know, you’re a young guy, you’ve come into the Premier League for the first time in your life, you’ve come in mid-season, it’s not your natural language.

"You have to give the guy a bit of a break. I mean, give me a hard time, I have no problem with that. But give Ruben a break. I think he’s a good guy, he’s working hard, and I think he’s doing a great job."

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