Manchester United’s ongoing financial crisis, laid bare by co-owner Jim Ratcliffe this week, has added immense pressure on the club to secure Europa League success and reclaim Champions League revenue for next season.
The Red Devils will host Real Sociedad on Thursday, with their last-16 tie delicately balanced after a 1-1 draw in Spain last week. Currently sitting 14th in the Premier League, United’s hopes of recovering from a dismal season now rest on their performance in Europe.
Ahead of revealing plans for a new 100,000-seater stadium to replace Old Trafford, Ratcliffe defended the drastic cost-cutting measures he has enforced during his first year in charge. However, the club has not yet disclosed how it plans to finance the reported £2 billion ($2.6 billion) cost of the new stadium.
In addition to this, United recently announced that up to 200 more job cuts were expected, following the 250 redundancies made last year. Ratcliffe explained in a series of interviews that the club would have “run out of money by Christmas” without these tough decisions.
Over the last seven years, the club has accumulated £410 million in losses, mainly due to costly mistakes in the transfer market and managerial hires. Despite these struggles, United has only failed to qualify for European competition once in the past 35 years. However, unless they win the Europa League in Bilbao on May 21, that streak could come to an end this season.
