‘Cutting out the fat’ – Man United job cuts spark fiery debate between Simon Jordan and Jim White live on air

Simon Jordan and Jim White clashed live on talkSPORT over Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s latest cost-cutting measures at Manchester United.

It was announced that over 100 club employees will be made redundant as part of the restructuring by the Red Devils’ INEOS ownership.

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Since Ratcliffe and his company acquired a 27.7 per cent stake in United in February 2024, several controversial steps have been taken to reduce expenditure at Old Trafford.

This included a ruthless clean-out last year, as 250 employees across all departments were axed in the summer.

And it has now been revealed that the club are planning further cut-backs, with a second round of redundancies set to take place which will place jobs throughout the building at risk yet again.

The Times recently disclosed that one of these members of staff would be long-serving head of team operations, Jackie Kay, after almost 30 years working at United.

Kay’s dismissal is said to have left many within the club disappointed, who has worked there since 1995 and comes from a family of supporters.

And it isn’t just her colleagues who have been unimpressed by the latest news of Ratcliffe’s job-cutting measures.

talkSPORT’s White and Jordan had a heated discussion on the matter, with the latter insisting the INEOS chief is right to take ruthless action to drive higher standards at Old Trafford.

Jordan said: “The bottom line is that he’s going through this business.

“If there was a real issue of the cost implications at Man United they would not be spending £150million on bloody footballers!

“So the bottom line is, they are cutting out the fat and the elements of the business that are not producing the outcomes that perhaps they should, and the overstaffing, the over-resourcing, the lackadaisical mentality.

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“And they’re going to build an effective, and lean, and focused machine that can come out the other side delivering the same outcomes better and more efficiently with less waste.

“It’s the reality of life, it’s the reality of business.”

He continued: “You’re not removing somebody from the equation because you need them desperately, and ultimately cutting your nose off to spite your face, alright?

“You’re removing them because there’s no necessity for them!”

And while Jordan claimed United’s recent cutbacks are driven by a desire to improve the culture within the club, rather than finances, White still questioned the decision.

Jordan pointed to Ratcliffe’s previous comments to the United We Stand fanzine in December, where he said the club had become ‘mediocre’ in recent years, and vowed to make ‘unpopular decisions’ to change this.

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The former Crystal Palace owner said: “It’s not about cutting all United people, it’s about putting a business in an effective position to be successful.

“And we’ve heard from Ratcliffe that he felt that standards were wrong. People forget all this.”

To this, White came back: “It is about cutting, there’s been about 350 redundancies, all United people!”

He went on to question United’s decision to reduce costs among their workforce given their willingness to spend heavily in other areas.

This included the decision to extend former head coach Erik ten Hag’s contract in the summer, only to then sack him months later, as well as the departure of sporting director Dan Ashworth after just five months at the club.

White then asked: “Have they not brought some of this upon themselves? How about not lengthening Ten Hag’s contract?

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“How about not paying off Dan Ashworth a ridiculous amount of money to get rid of him?”

He continued: “Why should people in the factory floor, the workforce, why should they suffer? 350 redundancies!”

Jordan replied: “We all know the unfairness of football, but that’s the nature of the beast.”