Sir Jim Ratcliffe's £36m Manchester United cost-cutting results revealed

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Manchester United posted losses of £113m in the season Sir Jim Ratcliffe became the club's co-owner.

The British billionaire launched a thorough review of club operations after buying a minority stake in United in February 2024, with the eye-watering deficit for the 2023/24 campaign revealed later that year.

The cost-cutting measures that followed gained plenty of attention, with Ratcliffe criticised for making hundreds of redundancies, cutting free lunches for staff and ending the ambassadorial role held by the club's greatest manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting revealed in Manchester United's financial results

Ratcliffe is also reportedly planning to make £10m worth of cuts to United's squad this summer, including shifting some ageing and underperforming high-earners.

The club's finances have already drastically improved since Ratcliffe's arrival, with that £113m loss for 2023/24 turned into a £13m profit for the first three months of this season - covering July, August and September 2025 - and the latest accounts continue that positive trend.

United have today released their financial results for the second quarter of 2025/26, which spans the three months up to December 31 last year.

The figures show an operating profit of £32.6m in the first six months of this financial year - a huge improvement on the operating loss of £3.9m for the same period last season.

That equates to a difference of more than £36m year-on-year, with Ratcliffe's cost-cutting measures hailed as a key reason for the upturn, as United's total operating expenses for the period fell by £22.5m to £173.9m.

The numbers are especially notable considering that the club missed out on the income gained from playing in Europe this term, after they finished 15th in the Premier League in 2024/25.

If United had beaten Tottenham Hotspur in last season's Europa League final - earning a place in the Champions League in the process - it is estimated that they could have earned more than £100m as a result.

It is one of many reasons why Ratcliffe will be desperate for the club to get back to Europe's top table next term after two campaigns away.

United are well-placed for a Champions League return, sitting fourth in the table after taking 16 points from interim head coach Michael Carrick's first six games in charge.

They have little margin for error, though, with only the top five in the Premier League likely to qualify for Europe's premier club competition, and sixth-place Liverpool just three points behind United.