The Ratcliffe revolution – inside Man Utd’s mass exodus and rebuild

Phase one of their seismic change has been executed.

The shock of 450 redundancies.

Virtually a complete overhaul of senior management.

Significant changes purposely carried out at speed in a bid to ensure the process was not dragged out and the inevitable unease could start to settle much quicker.

After the mass Manchester United exodus has come the rebuild.

When he paid £1.25bn for a 27.7% stake in United on Christmas Eve 2023, Ratcliffe vowed to take the club back to the top of the English game.

He also wanted to make it profitable.

Eye-watering financial losses of £113.2m to 30 June 2024 subsequently led Ratcliffe to claim the following March that, without action, the club would “go bust” by Christmas.

The impact of the on-pitch upheaval is there for all to see.

Behind the scenes the changes have been seismic.

The motivation was twofold.

As they assessed the inner workings of the club, senior figures around the ownership concluded it was “over-dimensioned”, according to one observer close to the process.

In other words, there were too many people and too many jobs.

They found a structure which they felt required United to be playing in the Champions League every season and competing to win the Premier League. Failure put a strain on finances.

Having reached such a view and with losses so high, slashing staff numbers was a harsh but inevitable reality.

An initial cull of 250 staff within months of Ratcliffe’s arrival was carried out to get the numbers down.

It is accepted internally that the pain created was extensive, the shock huge.

It was the second round of 200 redundancies this year that allowed the hierarchy to pursue a different staffing model, so finance could be used in what was felt to be a more efficient way.

Nowhere is the impact of that more evident than in United’s data operation.

In an interview with the popular United We Stand fanzine in December 2024, Ratcliffe described the club’s approach to data analysis as being in the “last century”.

It was felt that Formula 1 was the sport at the cutting edge of data and AI use. The performance of every single component is monitored in fine detail, and success and failure can be measured in hundredths of a second.

As a result, Michael Sansoni’s arrival from the Mercedes F1 team as director of data in April was one of the least surprising moves.

Sansoni has completely revamped United’s data capabilities, which are now being used extensively across performance, recruitment and training.

Precise details of the work Sansoni has implemented are a closely guarded secret, but one source said the work of United’s data and analytics team has accelerated to such a degree it is now “among the top four teams”.

Following the second set of job cuts there was a strategic focus to bring in what have been described as “versatile people who are multi-faceted and multi-skilled to help in multiple areas”.

It is the senior appointments that really catch the eye, though.

A quick list of new arrivals among senior staff at the Old Trafford club unearths 19 names.

Not all the exits were forced and, as at any big organisation, a change in ownership can lead to movement further down – but the scale of change has been significant.

Two notable figures remain: Collette Roche and Martin Mosley.

Chief operating officer Roche is leading United’s representation around their proposed 100,000-capacity new stadium and the wider Old Trafford regeneration.

Mosley joined United in 2007 and took over as general counsel in the summer of 2024 following the departure of Patrick Stewart, who is now chief executive at Rangers.

Roche and Mosley’s presence is regarded as a crucial link to the pre-Ratcliffe era while those running the club get a full understanding of the scale of United, which can come as a shock, even for those – like chief executive Omar Berrada (Barcelona/Manchester City), chief business officer Marc Armstrong (Paris St Germain), performance director Sam Erith (Manchester City/Tottenham/FA) and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell (Chelsea/Red Bull) – with experience of working at big clubs.

Trusted Ineos figure Roger Bell has become United’s chief finance officer and Kirstin Furber has arrived from Channel 4 as people director.

But it goes much further. A head of sports medicine and, for the first team, a new doctor, a new physio and a new performance chef. Experts in nutrition and soft tissue treatment. Academy director. Media director. All part of the nuts and bolts at a leading Premier League club in 2025.

So many significant figures from the previous era, who negotiated key deals, treated players and presented the public face of the club, have gone.

No-one can be sure if the future will be better.

As with every other club, external judgement of the success or failure of off-field change can be swift and it is almost always connected to results of the first team, which by their nature can hinge on arbitrary moments.

There is an acceptance internally at United of an unquantifiable lag time between inception of new processes and their outcome.

Sometimes, though, it becomes obvious a certain move has failed.

Dan Ashworth clearly falls into that category. Highly respected in the game, Ashworth’s willingness to leave Newcastle to take up the job of sporting director is still felt at Old Trafford to be a positive and reflected well on the changes being made and future direction anticipated.

However, after United paid Newcastle £3m in compensation, within five months he was gone.

Sources deny that a split occurred around the choice of Ten Hag’s replacement.

As we approach the second anniversary of Ratcliffe’s involvement, United are a much-changed organisation.

Those gargantuan losses have been cut to a manageable size. United’s latest accounts to 30 June 2025 showed they were at £33m. It is anticipated that the club will eventually become profitable.

The Glazer family, it is stressed, are not passive observers. They remain active and engaged. But the focus is now on Ratcliffe and his leadership team.

“What is happening next week or in the next transfer window is part of life, but an eye needs to be kept on the mid and the long term,” says a club insider.

European football of any description is this season’s goal.

But the sweeping changes have not been made to achieve that. The targets are bigger.

“If you are at Manchester United the thought process has to be around competing to win the Premier League and Champions League every year,” says someone with an understanding of how the club is being run.