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In this report on United’s extraordinary 2024-25 campaign, which is built on months of conversations with people familiar with the environment who will remain anonymous to protect relationships, The Athletic can reveal:
Player doubts over Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system
Power dynamic at executive level
What United are prioritising in player recruitment
Ratcliffe’s offer to watch Euros final on his yacht
His role in hiring data specialist and cost of 78-year-old sprint coach
The battle over United’s global tours
Fernandes’ intervention after Zirkzee boos
Truth about £175,000 body language consultant
Ratcliffe was present at United’s training base for a medical meeting involving Ruben Amorim to scrutinise the setbacks, which left United fielding a bench full of academy players for that Sunday’s game at Tottenham Hotspur. There were tensions around the subject.
Some observers got the impression that Amorim was seriously contemplating walking away, such was his frustration with the performances and working environment. Amorim’s public statements around this time about facing an uncertain future, when he even said that the sack can be “liberating”, added substance to the suspicion. He said similar things at Carrington.
Amorim received assurances on transfer targets and future plans from chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox, key figures of communication for Ratcliffe, and stayed. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe provided interesting context on his relationship with Amorim during his interview with The Times and The Telegraph a month later, on March 10.
“I really, really like Ruben,” he said. “He’s a very thoughtful guy. Every time I go to the training ground, I speak to Ruben. I sit down and have a cup of coffee with him and tell him where it’s going wrong, and he tells me to f*** off. I like him.”
Other staff at Carrington and Old Trafford have felt Ratcliffe’s focus too. When entering different rooms at the facilities in his early phase of controlling the club, he asked the likes of masseurs and chefs what they were doing and requested emails be sent to him outlining why they were doing it, while offering his own thoughts on various practices, including how he stretched before the London Marathon.
United taking off a short while after the final whistle against Aston Villa on Sunday is not what several players had in mind for the end to their Premier League campaign, and there have been murmurings of discontent. Those in charge of budgets could point out how the lower league position delivered by the team’s performances has deprived the accounts of about £20m in prize money compared to last season’s eighth-place finish. Players might conversely highlight the £14.1million cost of sacking Ten Hag and Ashworth, and the fact that the tour was arranged in January, long before United’s final placing was decided.
By the time United start next season, they will have travelled nearly 24,500 miles combined on their tours to opposite sides of the globe.
Another of Ratcliffe’s ideas did come to fruition a few months later. During a conversation about strength and conditioning, Lord Sebastian Coe, the chair of United’s Old Trafford regeneration task force, recommended Ratcliffe connect with track and field coach Harry Marra to see if he could assist with sprinting mechanics. Coe met Marra in Santa Barbara to make the proposal, with Ratcliffe calling a few days later to firm up the offer of consultancy work for a five-week period. Marra, 78, was first seen at Carrington in December, his glowing Californian tan sticking out under Manchester’s grey winter skies, while he was also a guest in the directors’ box at Old Trafford for a couple of games.
Marra, who established a renowned reputation for leading Ashton Eaton to double Olympic gold in the decathlon, primarily gave advice to coaches on correct running techniques, but he did request permission to go directly to Mount. “He was doing these zigzag runs between cones and I could see that his arm action was improper,” Marra told The Times. “So I showed him what the correct arm action should be in sprinting, and on the very next run he was amazing. He came round the last cone with this big smile on his face and said, ‘This s*** really works.’”
There was some scepticism of Marra’s suitability as a temporary presence at Carrington at a time when results were bad. Reviews were mixed. Mount, determined to get to the bottom of his injury issues, had already looked at getting expert guidance on his gait after a sequence of muscle problems. Other United players have also investigated their sprint mechanics.
Altogether, Marra’s fees plus accommodation came to about £80,000 and some at the club wondered whether that kind of assistance could have been done at less expense at a time when Ratcliffe was, for instance, cutting the annual £40,000 given to United’s former players’ association.
There are more changes brewing in the medical department, too. In April, interim performance director Sam Erith told staff in a meeting how his role would be made permanent, but cuts to physios and masseurs would be coming, albeit postponed so as not to affect the players during the run-in. The announcement did nothing to lift the mood.
Those affected were told their fate on Friday, May 23, less than 48 hours after assisting the team for the Europa League final, and a day after an end-of-season barbecue at Carrington that was supposed to be a chance to unwind.
The constant threat of redundancies has stalked the atmosphere at Carrington, and many people believe this has impacted the first-team environment. Players have relationships with those staff members at risk of losing their jobs and that has undermined the attempts to build positive mindsets in the dressing room, according to people familiar with the situation.
(Liittyen Brunoon) The deal, according to people familiar with the matter, is for four years on €25million a year net, equivalent to triple his current salary, while Al Hilal are prepared to pay United £80m. Champions League football would have put the matter to bed, but a European exile opens the exit door. Fernandes seemed to take one step towards it by stating after the Europa League final: “If the club thinks it’s time to part ways because they want to do some cash-in, football sometimes is like this.”
Fernandes going would totally alter United’s side. One game where he showed his talent came away at Goodison Park in February, when his brilliant free kick helped drag United to a point having trailed 2-0.
The first half was one of the lowest points of the season, a period when Amorim said his team “did not exist"
It can be revealed that United travelled to Goodison Park for the 12.30pm kick-off on the morning of the game, rather than stay in a nearby hotel overnight, with players reporting for duty at Carrington at around 7.30am to get the team coach to Merseyside. The early start time was commented on by players, and the team arrived at Goodison at 11.20am, shortly before being due to warm up. Usually, even for an hour-long trip, United would book local accommodation in those circumstances.
Amid a backdrop of redundancies and cost-cutting, there were rumours at United that finances drove the call, but people briefed on it by United say the decision stemmed from the football department. For the game against Chelsea on a Friday night, United travelled down to London the day before and stayed over.
Ratcliffe had less regard for what he termed a “body language consultant” earning £175,000 per year at United. It can be revealed that the person in question was hired by Ten Hag to primarily help players recognise relevant facial expressions during penalty shootouts. Ten Hag wanted to improve a record of one win in six previous series, and worked with players using the consultant to establish confidence in shooting and saving and also reading the opponent taker or goalkeeper. United beat Brighton and Coventry in this period, the second shootout on the way to winning the FA Cup and qualifying for Europe, raising revenue many times the cost of the consultant.
The appointment was considered a luxury by United executives, but worthwhile in backing a manager.
Ratcliffe takes a different view, and wants all outgoings analysed. Some believe he is getting more involved than expected at United because the side has had a woeful Premier League campaign and he wants to fix things as he has done in his chemical empire.
