After lunch on Monday, Manchester United’s embattled staff will sit down and brace themselves for the latest round of savage job cuts by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Some will be there in person at Old Trafford to hear the bad news. Others will dial in remotely at 2.30pm to find out how Ineos plan to achieve their ‘core objective to help United win again, which requires transformation on and off the pitch’, according to an email sent to employees.
Up to another 200 jobs are at risk which would mean that more than a third of the workforce has been culled since Ineos took over football operations a year ago.
The plan is to reinvest a significant chunk of the savings into the first team, as if enough money hasn’t already been ploughed into paying the transfer fees and wages of one of the worst United sides in living memory.
You see, saving money is one thing but spending it wisely is something else altogether.
Ruben Amorim admitted earlier this month that staff are paying the price for United’s failings on the pitch with their jobs – ‘we spend the money, we are not winning’ – and here at Goodison Park was further evidence of the almost criminal wastage of recent years.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to axe more jobs at Manchester United but it might not even be worth it
The heavy cuts and spending so far have only seen United hit the self-destruct button
United are on course for their worst-ever Premier League season under Ruben Amorim
A United team stuck in 15th place in the Premier League table escaping from Goodison Park on their last visit to this wonderful old stadium with a point they barely deserved, thanks to an unlikely second-half comeback and a penalty controversy in injury time that went their way.
A United team that was outplayed and outfought for more than an hour by a resurgent Everton side buoyed by the return of David Moyes.
A United team crying out for creativity in front of goal after letting Marcus Rashford and Antony go out on loan in January without signing any replacements.
Amorim’s only attacking option on the bench at Goodison Park besides Alejandro Garnacho was teenage rookie Chido Obi. It was baffling that he left Garnacho there for 62 minutes before Obi got his second senior outing eight minutes later.
It was only when the Argentina winger came on and allowed Bruno Fernandes to take up a deeper role that United started to play.
Garnacho won the two free-kicks that resulted in Fernandes beating Jordan Pickford from the edge of the box and Manuel Ugarte volleying in his first United goal to equalise after Beto and Abdoulaye Doucoure had given Everton a commanding lead before half-time.
Both goals came from second balls which underlined Everton’s greater appetite and aggression.
Moyes’s side could still have won it deep into added time when referee Andy Madley awarded a penalty after Ashley Young went down under a challenge from Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire, then reversed his decision after being advised to check again on the pitchside monitor.
Letting go of Marcus Rashford and Antony has left Man United with limited attacking options
The Red Devils were extremely fortunate to escape Everton with a point on Saturday afternoon
It was a highly controversial call to overturn the late penalty decision in favour of Ashley Young
Alan Shearer has ripped into Man United, calling their recent performances ‘Confused.com’
It’s 13 years since Sir Alex Ferguson had a quiet word with Young about diving. Did the former United man’s reputation count against him?
Maybe it would have been a soft penalty, but there was no clear and obvious error to justify the VAR overturning the on-field decision.
It certainly felt as though United had got away with one again at the end of a week in which Mail Sport revealed that some players are losing faith in Amorim’s methods. Any success, they believe, is down to pot luck rather than planning.
A second full week of working on the training pitch at Carrington produced another muddled performance following the defeat at Tottenham.
Amorim insisted that he didn’t change anything at half-time, and merely told the players to better execute the plan that was in place from the start.
But there are times when United look like they are making it up as they go along.
‘To me, it’s confused.com,’ Alan Shearer told Match of the Day. ‘I’m not sure they know what they’re doing.
United are simply surviving this season and staff are paying the price for almost criminal waste
Full weeks on the training pitch have produced nothing but muddled showings in the league
‘I really look at the players and think they’re struggling to understand what the manager wants and needs.’
Amorim’s side are at home to Ipswich at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. They must prevent a team lying third from bottom in the Premier League – and managed by former United coach Kieran McKenna – from closing the 13-point gap between the two clubs and dragging United into serious relegation trouble.
While that scenario still feels unthinkable, Amorim spoke once again at Goodison Park on Saturday about ‘surviving’ for the rest of the season.
Some of the poor staff waiting to learn their fate on Monday might be lucky to last that long.
