Sir Jim Ratcliffe calls untidiness of Manchester United facilities ‘a disgrace’ in email to club staff

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sent an email to all Manchester United staff to highlight the lack of tidiness in parts that he witnessed of the club’s Old Trafford stadium and Carrington training facilities, describing one area as a “disgrace”.

Ratcliffe and his company INEOS completed their purchase of a minority stake in United earlier this year, with the 71-year-old visiting the club’s facilities earlier this week.

Following the visit, Ratcliffe circulated an email to the club’s staff — which has been seen by The Athletic — to describe the tidiness of the club’s IT department as a “disgrace” while adding that “frankly the dressing rooms of U18s and U21s” were not much better.

He said that the standards of cleanliness at United’s facilities would not be acceptable at INEOS and “we are a chemical company.”

Ratcliffe warned that is unacceptable for an elite sporting organisation to not maintain the highest levels of cleanliness and tidiness, adding it gives a poor impression to visitors including the parents of young footballers, potential signings and the press.

It is the latest installment of Ratcliffe’s attempts to set a new tone and culture internally with a major focus on performance, standards, discipline and outcomes.

Staff were stunned to receive the email on Friday afternoon. The initial response by some was to consider the feedback insulting and over-the-top, but others told The Athletic they felt this assault on United’s standards is long over due and necessary to weed out under-performing colleagues in the organisation.

On Wednesday, it was made clear to club staff that underperformance across an organization at Ineos would lead to treats like Christmas parties not happening, implying this would also be how it may work at United.

Manchester United have been approached for comment by The Athletic.

INEOS acquired a 27.7 per cent stake in the Premier League club in a deal worth over $1.3bn, and are now overseeing significant structural off-field change in leading football operations at United.

INEOS are aiming to implement improvements across the board at United as they seek to change the culture at the club with an approach of shock therapy.

Earlier this week, The Athletic revealed Ratcliffe ordered the club’s non-football staff back into their offices in Manchester and London — insisting the work-from-home culture for employees must be ended.

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INEOS initially appeared to be focusing on football and performance but swiftly concluded that the necessary improvements would also require Ratcliffe’s team taking a firm grip of the club’s business, commercial and operations arms.

Last month, INEOS hired the consultancy firm Interpath Advisory to review the club’s business and operational costs.

United have made multiple off-field changes in an attempts to lower their expenditure, including removing company credit cards from staff members, who are also being asked to contribute to their own travel and food costs for the journey from Manchester to London for this month’s FA Cup final against Manchester City.

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In December 2023, United had their food hygiene rating for Old Trafford downgraded after guests at a corporate event were served raw chicken.

The Athletic initially revealed that the club had received complaints from guests who attended an event hosted at the club’s stadium. The Food Standards Authority (FSA) subsequently ruled the club’s management of food safety, that includes a “system or checks in place to ensure that food sold or served is safe to eat,” requires “major improvement”.

As a result of the review, the food hygiene rating for Old Trafford was reduced to one out of five. Prior to the incident and an inspection on November 24 last year, it was a maximum five out of five.

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