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Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club's chairman, recently conducted an interview with renowned British journalist Dan Roen, discussing the club's financial struggles and his experiences since taking charge. This is the first part of the interview.

In January 2022, Sir Ratcliffe purchased a 28.94% stake in Manchester United from the Grazze family, gaining full control of the club's football operations. He acknowledged that after seven years of losses amounting to ￡4.1 billion, restructuring the squad and laying off 450 players would be necessary to stabilize finances and rebuild the team.

When asked about the challenges of turning Manchester United around compared to other difficult situations he has faced, Ratcliffe stated they were comparable. As one of the UK's wealthiest industrialists, he expressed: "We've seen many failing businesses, and you have to do everything to get them back on their feet. In that sense, Manchester United isn't any different—it's just that they've fallen into such disarray. Look at the numbers—they're in a dire situation, having lost control of the club's direction and incurring massive costs."

Ratcliffe emphasized that Manchester United's financial situation is dire, with the club facing insolvency by the end of 2025. He stated, "If they don't change things, by the end of this year they'll have nothing. That's the first time we've openly acknowledged this, but it's the truth."

Ratcliffe rejected claims that Manchester United would have to cut salaries and benefits to save money, saying, "If they don't make changes, they'll be broke by Christmas. Are you going to run this club the way the media wants you to, or the way you think it should be run? My advice: focus on small things and achieve them, but never overlook the big ones."

He criticized the practice of offering benefits and perks to employees, stating, "This doesn't make sense. Either you solve the problem or you don't. I'm serious—Manchester United will be broke by Christmas. The board is doing the same thing, so are you going to do it?"

Ratcliffe made it clear that failing to implement cost-cutting measures would be unacceptable, saying, "If we don't do this, even if we don't buy any players in the summer, Manchester United will be broke by Christmas. We've reduced the club's operating costs by ￡1.25 billion, which has fundamentally changed the club's situation. A sum of that magnitude is not small."

In January 2023, Sir Ratcliffe and the Grazze family reached an agreement to acquire nearly 30% of Manchester United's shares for ￡12.5 billion, plus an additional ￡2.32 billion in new funds. He acknowledged the immense challenges ahead, but even someone as experienced as him in leading global corporations would not have anticipated the difficulties.

After his management team thoroughly analyzed the club's situation, Ratcliffe realized it was far worse than initially thought. Over the past seven years, Manchester United had lost money in six of those years while investing heavily in both players and staff. By 2025, the club would face insolvency, he warned, and they would have to make difficult decisions.

Ratcliffe admitted that he had taken a tough approach that had alienated some in the media, stating, "I've been criticized for my harsh and unfeeling methods, but I'm not surprised. The question is: are you going to run a club the way the media wants you to, or the way you think it should be run?"

還有，他還表示，由首席執(zhí)行官奧馬爾-貝拉達帶領(lǐng)的新管理團隊將在三年后讓曼聯(lián)成為英超最盈利的俱樂部。

拉特克利夫表示，俱樂部在弗格森爵士接手后開始大舉支出，他在2023年底收購股份后發(fā)現(xiàn)，曼聯(lián)曾以每年17.5萬英鎊的薪酬聘請了一名"肢體語言專家"。在告知弗格森爵士俱樂部無法負擔其每年200萬英鎊的薪資后，弗格森爵士也表示愿意離職。拉特克利夫親自動員和弗格森進行了交談，稱一開始老爺子有些不耐煩，但交流還算成熟理性。之后他表示，弗格森爵士隨后表示："行，我會離職。"

但俱樂部嚴峻的財務(wù)問題凸顯了英力士集團面臨的挑戰(zhàn)的嚴重性。過去七年，曼聯(lián)累計虧損達3.915億英鎊，其中過去三年累計虧損達2.54億英鎊。在這期間的4.1億英鎊虧損中，僅在2019年有過一次盈利，當年俱樂部盈利1880萬英鎊。

拉特克利夫爵士指出，即便曼聯(lián)今年夏天不簽新球員，仍需償還巨額轉(zhuǎn)會債務(wù)。他說："今年夏天，我們要'買斷'安東尼、桑喬、卡塞米羅、利桑德羅-馬丁內(nèi)斯、霍伊倫和奧納納，他們每個人的買斷費用約為1700萬英鎊。即便我們不引進新球員，也還是得支付這些費用。這不是一件簡單的事。"

在過去20年里，僅利息支付一項，曼聯(lián)就為格雷澤家族償還了高達10億英鎊的債務(wù)，這還沒算上股息和咨詢費等費用。上周日主場對陣阿森納的比賽中，球迷們舉行了規(guī)模盛大的抗議活動，以反對格雷澤家族，而拉特克利夫爵士本人如今也面臨著那些希望格雷澤家族徹底出售俱樂部的球迷的憤怒。

他說："看看俱樂部虧損的這段時間，員工人數(shù)增加了250人。你正在處于巨額虧損的時期，卻還在大量招人。這真的毫無道理，只會讓情況變得更糟。所以，看看一些很簡單的數(shù)據(jù)，我認為自2016年左右以來，俱樂部的運營成本增加了1億英鎊。"

他補充道："從1.7億英鎊漲到了2.7億英鎊。再看看球員的薪資成本，也增加了1億英鎊，達到了2.5億英鎊。而收入只增加了1億英鎊。在過去六七年里，俱樂部一直都在虧損。在過去四五年里，俱樂部的現(xiàn)金流失了3.2億英鎊。"

他說："你可能會孤注一擲地加大開支，想著'我們要花錢引進新球員，一切都會好起來的，因為我們會獲得歐冠資格'。但如果你沒能拿到歐冠資格，那就只能年復(fù)一年地虧損下去。最終，就會走投無路。所以，我知道我們目前所采取的一些艱難舉措在媒體上受到了很多批評。但對于曼聯(lián)來說，這些舉措絕對是必要的。曼聯(lián)需要成為一個精簡、高效的組織，量入為出，而目前它還遠沒有達到這個目標。"