Sir Ratcliffe’s brutal axe list includes officer, historian & 40-years-kit man

IT all got a bit emotional down at Carrington last week.

While there is talk about a reboot of Manchester United under Sir Jim Ratcliffe there are things going on behind the scenes which are genuinely affecting morale.

Staff are being fired left, right and centre, 250 of them.

It has been talked about in this column before but it deserves a revisit following the exit of a good guy called John Allen from the communications team.

John is 40 and has worked for United for 25 years, starting in the ticket office before moving into the media department in 2011.

He is United through and through. Something he inadvertently showed when he amusingly failed to keep his emotions in check after the Red Devils completed a 3-2 derby day comeback from 2-0 down at the Etihad in April 2018.

The press seats are just behind City fans and they were less than impressed with his reaction to Chris Smalling’s winner as he let out a cheer.

Still, that is John.

So on Thursday,  at his last press conference, he was understandably struggling to keep his emotions in check for a very different reason as he said goodbye.

Manager Erik ten Hag gave him a team shirt with the No 25 on the back representing his years at the club and made a little speech thanking him.

He said: “John, 25 years is a very long time. You are proud of this club and proud that you worked here. You feel so connected with this club. It is a difficult moment to say goodbye.

“I know you as a good colleague and a very good support for me.
“I wish you all the best for what is coming, it will be great for you because you are so competent.

“I wish you all the best in your work but also for your family, too.”

The regular United press pack also gave him a present. It all had the air of a happy retirement but it wasn’t, this bloke was getting the shove and he didn’t want to go.

Pausing to hold back the tears, John said: “It has been the biggest honour coming from Manchester to work with all these managers.

“This is my club and to be able to do this, I am very lucky.”

John doesn’t know why he has to leave, he is just one of those 250 Ratcliffe’s new broom is sweeping out to trim the wage bill.

Also out this week was club historian Cliff Butler after 40 years working at United and Alex Wylie after the same time as kitman.

Emotional goodbyes are being replicated all over the club while other members of staff are having their workloads, in some cases, doubled.

That’s business, the new minority shareholder might say.

But these are people’s lives.

With all the money that swills around football it all seems a drop in the ocean compared to the size of players’ contracts. But it is a drop which is continuing to have serious ripples.

How can you aim to be the biggest and the best again when so many corners are now being cut?

The man who used to run the club, Ed Woodward, came in for plenty of stick as he was seen as the Glazers’ man.

But members of staff were well looked after under him. It may have been seen as largesse but it was Manchester United and he wanted everything to be the best.

It was why so much money was spent on the pitch as well, not always on the best recruits in what was seen as a scattergun approach.

Still, they showed the world they remained a major name.

Of course the new financial rules are restricting everyone and things have to change.

I’m not sure John’s departure was necessary in the grand scheme of things.

And that can be said for plenty more at the self-proclaimed ‘biggest club in the world’.