Manchester United just dropped a brutal 1-0 defeat to rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford, and the absolute kicker? City was down to 10 men midway through the first half. Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co-chair Avram Glazer were right there in the directors’ box for what has to be a soul-crushing start to the season.
This loss pushes United to a measly four points from their opening four games. You read that right: four points from four matches. That equals their joint-worst start to a Premier League season since way back in 1992-93. And if that sounds familiar, it should; they had the exact same start last season under Ruben Amorim. Erling Haaland bagged the controversial winner for City, and you can bet the VAR chatter is flying around after that one. Losing to a shorthanded rival, with a start this bad, just feels like a punch to the gut for anyone who cares about the club.
The Plan That Isn’t Working Out
Remember when Sir Jim Ratcliffe dropped £1.25bn on a minority stake on Christmas Eve 2023? The whole point was to get this club back to its glory days. Watching that 1-0 loss from the box, with City playing a man down, definitely wasn’t part of the grand vision. Ratcliffe knew unpopular decisions were coming to cut losses, but you gotta think he expected some green shoots of recovery by now, nearly three years later.
Project chief executive Omar Berrada was talking about winning the Premier League title in 2028, which is just next season! On the evidence of this 199th Manchester derby, that aspiration looks like a very, very long shot. This club is bogged down with £1.3bn in overall debt, including outstanding transfer fees, as of their March 31 accounts. They even refinanced $425m worth of bonds at a higher interest rate and took an additional $125m without explaining where it went. Their full year accounts, covering up to June 30, 2026, are set to drop on September 23, and that’s going to be a must-read for anyone wondering how deep this financial hole really is.
Fans Are Beyond Fed Up, and It’s Getting Worse
It’s not just the on-field results, either. Thousands of fans protested the ownership before the City game, unfurling banners inside Old Trafford. This isn’t new; fans have been protesting the Glazer family since their leveraged buy-out in 2005 saddled the club with £600m in debt. Many fans are arguing that Ratcliffe’s involvement hasn’t made things better, maybe even worse.
The ill feeling really boiled over this summer with that ticket-touting investigation. Club officials admitted they underestimated how many fans shared account details and toned down some of the threats about season ticket confiscation. But they still defended the investigation, revealing last week that 685 fan accounts have been banned, with another 464 facing sanctions. When you’re trying to win back a fanbase, investigating your own supporters like that probably isn’t the move. With those financial accounts coming on September 23, things might just get even more intense around Old Trafford.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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