It’s worse than anyone could have imagined. Manchester United is completely broke, the club’s coffers have been emptied. The fallen giant is facing huge financial problems, despite Sir Jim Ratcliffe bringing bags of money to Old Trafford. Those bags contained 300,000,000 pounds but even that wasn’t enough. The club’s head of sporting affairs at the Theatre of Dreams is no longer holding back—he has revealed just how bad the situation is. And it is quite bad. Both dire and frightening. Manchester United will have to take on debt because, by the end of last year, around Christmas, they had run out of cash.With family in shambles, they’re building the biggest house in the worldThat’s why they didn’t spend much this winter, only shelling out 30,000,000 euros on Patrick Dorgu. They had to pull the brakes. The club has come to terms with the fact that recovery won’t be quick, but they believe that in a few years, they could once again compete for trophies. That’s why they have made cuts and laid off staff—to avoid being in trouble again by Christmas.“The simple answer is the club runs out of money at Christmas if we don’t do those things. If you spend more than you earn eventually that’s the road to ruin. Manchester United had gone off the rails a long way. If you look at the numbers, they were fairly scary because they had lost control of where the ship was headed. And the costs had got out of control. In super-simple terms the club has been spending more money than it has been earning for the last seven years, including this year. If you do that for a prolonged period of time it ends up in a very difficult place, and, for Manchester United, that place ended at the end of this year. At the end of 2025, Manchester United would have run out of cash. That is the first time we have ever said that in public, but that is the fact of the matter“ he said in an interview with Gary Neville.Amorim’s alibis have no end: “I have a lot of problems, my job is very difficult”He also admitted another truth – there is no more money in the club.”There is no more money in the club. And that’s after I invested 300,000,000 pounds. When you run out of cash, you go and get more. You go, talk to the banks, renegotiate—again and again. And trust me, you don’t want to go there. But that’s our job, isn’t it? You have to look ahead, face the problems, and solve them. And we will solve them” he assured fans.Ferdinand is serious: United could get relegatedOne of the most logical questions were about the current team and the current coach Ruben Amorim, whose results are not good at the moment. But Sir Jim Ratcliffe admitted some players are overpaid and that Amorim is doing a great job, considering the circumstances.“Some players are not good enough and some probably are overpaid, but for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time. We’ve got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future. There are some great players in the squad. As we know, the captain is fabulous. We definitely need Bruno Fernandes, he’s a fantastic footballer. If I actually look at the squad which is available to Ruben, he is doing a super job. He’s an excellent manager and I think he will be there for a long time“ said Ratcliffe.New debate: Sir Alex’s guilt for United’s demiseThere were also questions about wasting money after sacking Erik ten Hag (after giving him a contact extension months earlier) and Dan Anshwort (after hiring him six months ago).“I agree the Erik ten Tag and Dan Ashworth decisions were errors. I accept that and I apologise for that. If you look at the time we made the decision about Erik, the management team hadn’t been in place more than five minutes. He had just won a Cup final. We get criticised for being unemotional and there was a bit of emotion in that decision. It became clearer three months later that we got it wrong, but we moved on. I think we corrected it and we are in a very different place today“ he admitted.Women don‘t like Manchester, just ask Amorim and PepEverything that’s happening was expected. Ratcliffe knew a turbulent period was coming but that the better days are coming after that.”It may sound funny, but things have gone as we anticipated. We never thought the first year would be easy—there have been tough moments. We are where we are, and we know that people aren’t exactly happy about it. That’s why I’m quite unpopular at the moment. But I believe we are doing the right things, the things that need to be done for United to be back where it belongs and to start winning trophies again. If you don’t like where United has been over the last 12 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, you have to accept that change is sometimes uncomfortable. The club will be in a very, very different position in three years. I believe it will become the most profitable club in the world. It could have a world-class stadium, and I think it will be winning trophies again. In 2028, Manchester United will celebrate its 150th anniversary, and the club hopes to be back in the title race—and to win it—by then. Look at Arsenal, look at Liverpool, look at how long it took them to get their house in order and return to winning ways. It’s not impossible” said Manchester‘s minority owner.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – ROUND OF 16Second legTuesday20.45: (1.40) Barcelona (5.30) Benfica (8.00)23.00: (1.35) Inter Milan (4.90) Feyenoord (9.50)23.00: (3.05) Bayer Leverkusen (3.45) Bayern Munich (2.30)23.00: (2.30) Liverpool (3.60) PSG (3.20)Wednesday20.45: (2.85) Lille (3.35) Dortmund (2.65)23.00: (1.42) Arsenal (4.80) PSV (9.00)23.00: (1.62) Aston Villa (3.90) Club Brugge (5.60)23.00: (2.60) Atl. Madrid (3.50) Real Madrid (2.85)***odds are subject to change***
