Manchester United have experienced a summer like this.
Erik Ten Hag’s position as manager of Old Trafford would probably have remained intact, but around him almost everything has changed, with new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe reshaping a club that for long periods, the 19 years owned by the Glazer family, seemed that way. He was trapped in a distortion of time.
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Omar Berrada began running for general manager, Dan Ashworth marked his authority on his cadres as sporting director, Jason Wilcox traveled with the team on its preseason tour of the United States in his role as head coach and Christopher Vivell spoke with player agents as interim director of scouting. None of the four were at the club in January this year, however, they are now seen as important to United’s long-term tenure under partial ownership of Ratcliffe.
The control team is led by Sir Dave Brailsford, sporting director of Ratcliffe’s INEOS empire, who has been a regular guest on the Carrington club’s educational floor since the club handed over the keys to the club after Christmas. Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Blanc, CEO of INEOS Sport, is overseeing much of the primary planning.
Athletic spoke to a wide variety of United sources, either within the club and closely linked to it, to paint the definitive picture of this summer of changes. They all asked to remain anonymous, either about their relationships or because they had not been allowed to. to talk.
We can that:
There is no guarantee that the adjustments made will produce quick results. But as the new Premier League season kicks off tonight (Friday) with Fulham, a very different United is about to be unveiled.
Despite all the turmoil off the pitch over the past three months, for many United fans, the most apparent sign of recovery will come on Friday night, when they kick off their Premier League opener of the season against Fulham.
The United team’s names on the pitch are arguably not that different to last season at the start, as new signings will need time to get up to speed, but there will be a clear sense of freshness on the bench.
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Ten Hag has reorganized his coaching staff, bringing in Ruud van Nistelrooy, a United star player of this century, and René Hake as assistants, Andreas Georgson as first-team coach and Jelle ten Rouwelaar to manage the goalkeepers.
Georgson was visual on the technical pitch every time United took a loose shot during the Community Shield against Manchester City at Wembley last Saturday, a sign of his concentration in dead-ball situations. Darren Fletcher, another former United player, has gone from manager to first-team coach, although he continues to provide a vital link between academy players and the senior national team as the former Scotland midfielder takes part in educational sessions.
Steve McClaren’s departure earlier this month to take charge of the Jamaica national team was a marvel on the surface, but after two years at United and in a changing landscape, the 63-year-old saw the time was right to take on the role. . A new challenge.
The squad has also been renewed, with a higher volume of transfers (incoming and outgoing) than usual in a summer window. Four players were signed permanently and five were sold. Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee, Noussair Mazraoui and Yoro, who is expected to be out for three months following foot surgery, may take time to rest, but all were bought for long-term goals.
This is even more evident in Yoro’s case, as medical examinations showed an imaginable metatarsal problem when he joined French club Lille last month. However, administrators went ahead with the signing, confident that the 18-year-old defender will be one of United’s most productive players for the next decade. This was seen as a rare opportunity to land one of Europe’s most valued young players, ahead of Real Madrid, as evidenced by the amount (€70m potential; £59. 8m/$76. 8m). ).
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United treated Yoro thoroughly and only trained for 50 per cent of his sessions, however, he suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal (outside) of his left foot in his second game for the club, against Arsenal in Los Angeles in the United States. Yoro decided to stay with his new bandmates until the end of the holidays and underwent surgery once back in England. It is estimated that he will need 3 months of rehabilitation, but they will not rush him. United didn’t expect him to play as a teenager each and every week in the Premier League, so the signing of some other centre-back (who turned out to be De Ligt) was also in their sights.
There are several voices in the move process: Berrada, Ashworth, Ten Hag, Wilcox and Vivell joined through Matt Hargreaves, director of football negotiations, Steve Brown, head of recruiting operations, and Andy O’Boyle, assistant director of football. Brailsford Provided in all conversations, even if he doesn’t judge the players. His role on a three-person committee, along with Ratcliffe and Joel Glazer, co-chief executive, ties into the club’s overall strategy and broader monetary situation.
Members of the organization collaborate and each has so far played a different role in the signings, from monetary negotiations to private appointments with targets. Daily recruiting meetings are held on users and through Microsoft Teams. We have the feeling that other people are taking on their daily jobs as the days go by. Lately Vivell has been hired as an actor, but he has a good relationship with Berrada and his appointment is expected to be permanent.
Some players’ agents have reported confusion about who to call in relation to a move given the other task titles, and often choose to go with the user they have an established date with. Internally, however, there is no lack of clarity, with Ten Hag following talks in June on the Spanish resort island of Ibiza and serious attention on whether to change course, the leaders have fully committed to the 54-year-old Dutchman as coach.
Ten Hag and Ashworth are the club’s main sporting figures and work closely together. Their offices in Carrington, in the refurbished academy building while work continues on the first team facilities, face each other and speak daily.
In all structural changes, it is the middlemen who close the deals.
Jorge Mendes was a key figure in Yoro’s transfer and also manages Manuel Ugarte’s career. Despite United’s insistence that French champions Paris Saint-Germain’s asking price of €60 million for the 23-year-old Uruguayan foreign midfielder is too high, other people got hooked. We agree with the scenario report that Mendes is looking to reach a deal and that a solution is still imaginable as the August 30 deadline approaches.
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Rafaela Pimenta, a high-profile agent who had worked intensively with his former colleague Mino Raiola and counts Manchester City striker Erling Haaland among his clients, negotiated the deals for De Ligt and Mazraoui.
The arrivals of De Ligt and Mazraoui, who played for him at Dutch club Ajax, his former employers, from Bayern Munich are a testament to Ten Hag’s current influence. There are now five former Ajax players in United’s squad, the others being Andre Onana, Lisandro Martinez and Antony.
The club feels comfortable with the signing of De Ligt and Mazraoui, having had several reports on each of them, for years, in their system. Bayern’s decision to sell them this summer appealed to United’s financial situation, and both are expected to earn a total of €70m if all the extensions are made.
Ten Hag had first floated the idea of De Ligt joining United in January, with his arrival expected this summer anyway, but Yoro’s injury has heightened the desire to get a deal done quickly.
Muscle injuries to striker Rasmus Hojlund and left-back Luke Shaw, two key positions, are also problematic, despite a replacement in the medical department, with Jordan Reece joining as the team’s chief physiotherapist under director of sports medicine Gary O’Driscoll. He arrived from Arsenal and, unlike United’s scenario last summer, he was in position well before pre-season.
Ten Hag needs his medical staff to have strong relationships with the players, where they provide authority to carry out their rehabilitation and recovery work. “One of the most important (aspects) is recovery,” Ten Hag said while in Los Angeles. “Medical, performance, they have to do things well, but the players also have to act in the right way, the criteria are so high that they must be met. It’s not just game day, it’s each and every day.
“We have adapted medical and functional methods to them. Nowadays, in football, the adjustments are so immediate that you have to innovate every time if you want to be the best.
Apart from the football department, there is turbulence among United’s core staff, with Ratcliffe below the club’s list of more than 1,000 workers who will be reduced for a quarter. This means that around 250 more people will lose their jobs, cuts that have triggered understandable anxiety.
Undoubtedly, some facets of United had swelled, with clubs of similar length operating with a particularly small squad. The Athletic may reveal that a team committed to hunting down the six Glazer brothers and their families has shrunk in duration. Based in London, his task was to lend a hand to the club’s owners and visitors when they wanted to travel to United, which consisted almost exclusively of attending their pre-season excursions. The colleagues were not clear about the briefing of this team the rest of the time. Several members of this organization were excluded from this year’s tour of the United States.
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The Glazers were concerned about the redesign of the club and cups were held in all departments. Blanc announced his intentions at an all-staff meeting and then tasked the other members of the leadership team: Collette Roche, Chief Operating Officer, and James Holroyd, Lead Business Progression Officer, with locating 25 payroll savings.
The control team, which grew out of Richard Arnold’s days as executive leader, was reduced to two other people after several departures, adding Cliff Baty as lead CFO, a role taken over through Roger Bell, who holds the same position at INEOS. — Attorney General Patrick Stewart and Director of Football John Murtough.
In the legal procedure, worker representatives were appointed to serve as a liaison between staff and United’s hierarchy, with senior managers and branch heads being key to consultations. Their proposals to the club’s board were heeded and, in some situations, additional cuts were advised in response. It is a procedure that some staff have described as cold, in which hard-working and long-serving staff members feel disrespected. Other actions were needed after years of mismanagement and, although they have not been resolved, they are also positive about the future.
Berrada’s first communications since his time in Manchester with City, the neighboring Premier League champions, are considered very positive, in terms of emails and non-public interactions. A source said the control team’s visibility and ambition is a counterpoint to United’s years of stagnation when it was only owned by Glazer.
Fans will inevitably start to feel the effect of the changes.
The number of ticket office staff at workplaces has been reduced to such an extent that callers are reporting unusually long wait times. One of the topics of investigation is the new virtual ticket office system, for which the Supporters’ Forum and the Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) has already generated concern among spectators, since the barcodes are in the most deep in the official app, rather than in phone wallets.
United has provided extensive communications, however, there are considerations that the new formula could cause turnstile delays for tonight’s 8:00 p. m. kickoff. m. . Arsenal had to delay the start of their home game for 30 minutes on the first weekend of last season due to 35,000 fans keeping 35,000 fans away from the Emirates Stadium due to e-ticket issues.
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To help prevent this from happening again at Old Trafford, United sent an email to locals in other departments asking them to volunteer to help, with a payment of £50 for 3 hours of work.
Meanwhile, other members were asked to stay away from the stadium. Two suites requisitioned as offices to facilitate Ratcliffe’s in-person operation are required for its original advertising purpose for the Fulham match, and the time needed to move them from one setup to another means those founded there cannot come. paintings from Thursday to Monday.
At the start of the three-game tour of the United States, the atmosphere aboard the flight was somber, as staff who were under threat of dismissal had been removed from the previous days and a small group of them were informed that their jobs had been eliminated. in danger while on the other side of the Atlantic, in some cases even after being informed that their paper was temporarily secure.
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A disturbing atmosphere persists within the club, with internal speculation about additional job cuts once the existing consultation is completed. But the club’s resources are categorical: this is the first restructuring project: it is better to finish it in one go and move on.
The club’s discretion means that members are not officially informed about colleagues who lose their jobs; Instead, they receive “out of office” responses when they send emails. Morale is also affected by the fact that some workers know they are leaving but have rest periods that extend into October.
Despite all this turbulence, those who sense Ratcliffe’s thinking say his goal was to rid United of a permanent employment culture and make the organization more agile. A source close to the process believes that the restructuring will affect the club as a whole.
However, players returning to Carrington for spring training are noticing a lack of familiar faces, as several deceased staff members were sidelined from the team in the medical, team and communications departments. Defender Jonny Evans brought up the subject in an interview in the combined zone after the friendly against Arsenal in Los Angeles. “It’s been hard to watch,” said Evans, who has been at United for 12 years in two stints. “The new owners feel that this is the direction they should take. But it was not easy for everyone at the same time.
Steve Brown, an analyst who worked at United for 23 years, wrote about his dismissal on LinkedIn. “Don’t lose the soul of the club to save a few pounds,” argued Brown, whose father, Mick, was the club’s chief scout. “Other people who were there made it such a special place, rich in history. “
Another of the replacement considerations this summer is the hiring of young people.
United sign Arsenal striker Chido Obi-Martin, 16. They agreed non-public terms with the player before attempting to strike a payment deal with Arsenal, a scenario that would not have happened under the regime beyond. United’s most advanced technique at the academy point was about waiting for deals between clubs and has avoided potentially complicated signings.
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Ratcliffe has given the team permission to assert itself in the market, and Luke Fedorenko, promoted to academy recruiting chief by academy director Nick Cox last August, has built smart relationships with Obi-Martin’s family to help move the project forward.
The teenager is expected to sign up for Travis Binnion’s youth teams, assuming the move is complete, and then sign up for Ten Hag’s senior team, but there will still be plenty of mixing given the ongoing structural paints at Carrington. Now situated on the covered pitch, it connects the first team and academy conversion rooms. People at the facility reported that on-site mechanical excavators and demarcated spaces create a tight tension but also a close-knit environment.
The United women’s team has been moved to the England team complex at St George’s Park, a 90-minute drive south of Manchester. Ratcliffe told the Times that “the men’s team is worth £800 million, the women’s team is worth £10 million. ” ». But they will return to Carrington after an educational camp in Spain, although housed in transition units.
O’Boyle and Dave Harrison, United’s director of football operations, provide sporting functionality data to architects Foster + Partners, and Gary Hebblewhite, Old Trafford’s veteran director of allocations, is the lead user for developers commissioning of the assignment, with Mags Mernagh, the infrastructure director who in the past oversaw the new educational field recently opened in Leicester City, left. The £50 million renovation to make the building more open is expected to last all season.
Norman Foster, founder of Foster + Partners and considered a key figure in modernist and high-tech architecture, is a friend of Ratcliffe and a representative of his company at the club’s latest stadium management organization meeting.
This has been seen as an indication of the possible role of Foster Partners in the construction of a new Old Trafford, and it is conceivable that there will be no tender process at all. Internally, questions arose about how United would cover the prices of Foster’s firm, famous in world architecture for its giant projects and really high fees.
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The preference for a new home for United built from scratch came from Ratcliffe, and the task force took care of the feasibility.
That preference has replaced since the days when Joel Glazer was reviewing plans submitted through Populous, the design firm hired through United in 2022. At the time, the aim was to renovate Old Trafford, Populous presented an option for a new stadium. to a reduced edition of the original field on which the academy and the women’s groups would play, as has been said lately.
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The Glazers felt that taking on more debt or providing naming rights would have angered fans, so they began to go in the less expensive direction of building the existing South Stand. Those close to the circle of relatives were left with the impression that they feel Ratcliffe is now covering up things they may never do.
Ratcliffe still doesn’t know how he would pay for a new Old Trafford, and the stadium is expected to charge at least £2bn, with enthusiasts wary of ticket charges emerging as charges for support covers.
But for now, the biggest fear of the spectators in the stands is to be on time tonight.
Additional Report: Adam Crafton
(Main photos: Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)