For the last couple of decades, Manchester United has been one of the biggest football clubs in the world. It has often been the centre of much media attention, and only sometimes for the best reasons.
Following the leveraged buyout takeover of the club by the Glazer family in 2005, which essentially plunged the club into the red for the first time, there has been substantial controversy and even disarray ever since, which only seemed to exacerbate when its legendary former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson left, and the club stopped competing for the Premier League.
In the years that followed, spending spiralled out of control, with the club being plunged further into debt and staff costs going through the roof.
When Sir Jim Ratcliffe via his company, Ineos Group invested £1.25 billion into the club earlier this year – effectively taking over day-to-day running, he announced that he would be making 250 staff redundant across various departments.
According to the most recent club accounts, the club had 1,112 employees on its books, which is an increase of 129 over two years and the largest in the Premier League. In addition, he revealed that staff must return to either Carrington or Old Trafford, ending the ‘work from home’ spell that followed after the global pandemic.
What Are The Numbers Over The Years?
The last couple of decades have witnessed a significant growth in headcount at Old Trafford – certainly, initially the club’s success did have something to do with that, however, one of the most agreeable factors is that the Glazers were reckless with spending.
In 2012, the club had 696 employees, three years later, the headcount stood at 813 and, perhaps unusually, this dropped slightly to 799 in 2016, however, variables such as people leaving by choice could well be the main reason for this.
From 2017 onwards that number gradually worked its way up to the thousand mark, with a slight drop in 2021, during the global pandemic, though the number that it has reached is unprecedented.
Table Of The Number Of Staff Employed By Manchester United FC
| Year | Number of Employees |
| 2012 | 696 |
| 2013 | 696 |
| 2014 | 696 |
| 2015 | 813 |
| 2016 | 799 |
| 2017 | 865 |
| 2018 | 922 |
| 2019 | 940 |
| 2020 | 992 |
| 2021 | 983 |
| 2022 | 1035 |
| 2023 | 1,112 |
| 2024 | 1,112 |
It is understood that the staff that are to be cut are defined as ‘non-essential’, with Ineos determined to embark on a major and brutal cost-cutting campaign, with long term profitability deemed to be the most important goal.
What Are The Main Departments At Manchester United?
Obviously, the football club has numerous departments, many of which play important parts in its functioning, while the vast majority of other football clubs will have the same.
Of course, at the top, there is the board and executive committee who have an overall say in the running of things and driving the direction of the business, starting with C-Suite which essentially is where the main part of the organisational pyramid begins.
These individuals each have hundreds of employees underneath them in relevant departments, with senior managers, managers and supervisors all taking on responsibility.
The CFO (Chief Finance Officer), for example is responsible for everything related to money, and relevant departments and roles include accounting and payroll management, while the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) has even more departments and roles to look after. Marketing can be split down into multiple tranches and consist of PR (Public Relations), content, digital, direct and advertorial.
Then there is the CCO (Chief Commercial Officer), who is responsible for the direct revenue side of things, considered to be an exciting role for many. As such, they oversee everything from sponsorship opportunities, merchandising and tickets, while even playing a small part in transfers.
No football club would be complete without operations, something which is headed by the COO (Chief Operations Officer), who ranks just above the aforementioned roles, directly underneath the CEO (Chief Executive Officer). While effectively being the boss of the other executives, the COO at Manchester United also has their own responsibilities which would include the all-important football side of things, such as director of football, managerial, coaching, scouting and playing staff and, to a degree even hospitality and catering – anything that is important to the day-to-day running of the club.
Like in every business, technology also plays a big part and the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) oversees IT and as such has their own department. Football clubs rely heavily on technology, with most staff members at Manchester United using computers, whether this is the marketing department or finance, while they would also be responsible for the development of their own inhouse technology.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen where cuts are made, though, it certainly seems that the club has experienced an overwhelming increase in staff over the last decade.