Six weeks later Dan Ashworth departed as United’s sporting director after only five months, despite Ratcliffe having heralded his appointment by saying the club was recruiting a world-class operator and paying Newcastle millions in compensation.
Before the latest proposed staff cuts, Ratcliffe’s other acts included shedding around 250 jobs last summer and autumn, and the cessation of Sir Alex Ferguson’s ambassadorial role, which was costing the club around £2m a year.
To the £200m splurged on five players Amorim had no say in recruiting, and who are part of a squad not built for the Portuguese’s 3-4-3 system, can be added the billion-plus spent in the previous windows since Ferguson retired in May 2013 after leading United to their last league title.
In other money-saving measures Bryan Robson, Andy Cole and Denis Irwin, prominent players under Ferguson, were reportedly having their salaries as ambassadors reduced, while Jackie Kay, the head of team logistics and an employee for three decades, is one prominent non-football employee who is set to lose her job.
So: how have England’s record 20-time champions, the storied club of the Busby Babes, the holy trinity of Best-Law-Charlton, and Ferguson, these shores’ greatest manager, reached a stage where their largest single minority shareholder believes financial meltdown is a realistic prospect?.
