There are rumors that Sir Jim Ratcliffe may implement a new rule at Manchester United that will conflict with Sir Alex Ferguson’s ideology.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making further changes at Manchester United (Image: Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
According to reports, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner of Manchester United, plans to break a long-standing restriction that Sir Alex Ferguson instituted.
The 71-year-old has taken a leading role in changing the attitude at United, directing employees with hybrid work arrangements to return to the office and removing most employees’ access to private cars. He also revoked department chiefs’ corporate credit cards.
Ratcliffe’s most recent directive, as reported by the Daily Mail, will not allow employees who do not work directly with the first team to eat at the main canteen on the training facility. Rather than having access to the “high-performance food” that the players eat, they will be sent to a different area for lunch.
The move’s detractors feel that prohibiting employees from the canteen will further distance United’s playing team from the club’s membership. Some at Old Trafford, meanwhile, are said to have been in favor of the move because they believe that some players’ antics constitute a “unwanted distraction.”
Ratcliffe’s move to bar employees from the canteen runs counter to Ferguson’s ideas, who at United promoted harmony in the workplace. According to the Express, he notably made sure that all of the club’s employees—from the billionaire players to the secretaries and tea ladies—dined together in the same location.
Ferguson, who became the club’s manager immediately after taking over in 1986, emphasized in his book Leading the importance of permitting everyone to use the canteen.
“I wanted the younger players to be able to mix and have lunch with the staff as well, including the grounds crew and laundry team,” he stated. I was influenced by what I had learnt from Marks and Spencer, which provided free lunches to their employees during tougher times decades ago since so many of them were skipping lunch in order to save every penny for their families.
“It probably seems a strange thing for a manager to be getting involved in the layout of a canteen at a new training ground, but when I think about the tone it set within the club and the way it encouraged the staff and players to interact I can’t overstate the importance of this tiny change.”
It remains to be seen if Ratcliffe’s most recent action will have the intended effect; in his quest for greatness, the United stakeholder is keen to change the club’s culture. The decision regarding manager Erik ten Hag’s future will be his next assignment. The club has not yet completed its internal review, so he is unsure if he will remain in his position for the upcoming season.
