MORALE among Manchester United’s players must be low enough as it is.
But when you throw in a total of 450 staff losing their jobs – around 40 per cent of the club’s workforce – it is hardly going to help matters.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has announced another sweeping round of cuts at Old Trafford[/caption]
Nothing is going right on or off the pitch for Manchester United[/caption]
Troy Deeney has seen first hand what staff redundancies at a club can mean[/caption]
First and foremost, it must be killing boss Ruben Amorim to have to keep answering questions about something which is not his fault, when he has only been at the club for two minutes.
And from a PR point of view – with United in the bottom half – the optics are terrible.
When was there last any positive news at Old Trafford?
Probably when Amorim was appointed – although that optimism didn’t last long.
Having spent most of my career at Watford, a far smaller operation with fewer employees, I was gobsmacked to hear United employed as many as 1,140 people before Sir Jim Ratcliffe got his axe out.
Maybe many of the roles Ratcliffe is slashing are non-essential. Maybe there genuinely was fat to trim.
And maybe the players themselves wouldn’t ever have met a lot of them.
When you hear about 450 job losses – 250 in the last round of redundancies, with 200 more to follow – it can sound like just a figure.
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But then I started thinking about the behind-the-scenes staff at Watford, people I actually know, and then it became more personal.
Because some of these people are the heart and soul of a football club.
For instance, in the training-room canteen at Watford, there were Linette and Sharon.
They served us food and drink but they did far more than that.
If we’d lost a few games, they were the people who lifted us.
If we needed bringing down a peg or two, they would keep us grounded.
Some of these people are the heart and soul of a football club.
“Oh yeah, you scored the winning goal in an FA Cup semi-final but do you think you can leave your dirty plates lying around?”
Linette had been at the club for 35 or 40 years – since Graham Taylor’s first spell as manager.
If you were feeling down, just try moaning at her and Sharon and you would hear something along the lines of ‘oh yeah, it must be so hard being a professional footballer, my heart bleeds for you’.
There will be staff like that at United’s training ground.
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The Red Devils triumphed 3-2 despite playing the second half with ten men.
A major cock-up from Patrick Dorgu and Andre Onana saw Ipswich take a third-minute lead through Jaden Philogene.
Then, after United had recovered to lead 2-1, Dorgu saw a straight red card for a poor challenge on Omari Hutchinson.
Philogene scored again to level it before the break only for Harry Maguire to nod in to be United’s saviour.
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And I hope for the sake of the players, that those sorts of people are not being made redundant.
Then there was Gail, Watford’s club secretary. Or should I say the club secretary/therapist.
When I needed to vent, I’d go and vent at Gail in her office and the world seemed a better place.
It was the same for a lot of players.
And then there was Scott — also known as ‘Eeyore’ — the miserable head groundsman, who was actually one of the funniest blokes you could ever meet.
He won awards for the playing surface at Vicarage Road.
He took such pride in his work that he resented you actually playing or training on his pitches.
If he could have erected a ‘Keep Off The Grass’ sign at the training ground, he would have done.
There was Richard, the long-serving media officer, who protected the club’s image with his life.
And another Richard, the player liaison officer, who was a godsend.
His was a role which some might reckon showed how pampered footballers can be – but I disagree.
We’d have so many youngsters, aged 18 to 21, coming over from abroad, with little grasp of English, who had never lived away from home.
Rich would do everything for them.
Even when the club’s owners don’t actually care. All of these people were invaluable and would have excellent relationships with many players.
He would tell them where to live, how to pay their bills, work out where their parents would stay if they came to visit.
For older players, he would find schools for their kids.
As captain, I’d have to tell players not to take the p*** because Richard was so dedicated he’d be sorting out their social diaries.
Some of the biggest unsung heroes at any club are those who work in the community department – many of whom are volunteers.
They ensure a club is in touch with its roots, playing a proper role in the local area.
United’s players have endured a horror season and their mood won’t be improved by staff redundancies[/caption]
Even when the club’s owners don’t actually care. All of these people were invaluable and would have excellent relationships with many players.
When Watford were relegated, quite a few people I knew were made redundant by the club and that was what killed me more than anything.
As a player, you know you have a short career, and that you’ve worked hard to get to the top in a very competitive industry.
But you also know you are very well paid, that you could go six months without money if you had to — and you were fully aware that most of these people being made redundant were facing the possibility of real hardship.
I don’t believe that United can make 450 people redundant without it having any impact on the players. Cut away too much ‘fat’ and you can end up losing your heart and soul.
I thought long and hard about whether I should dig into my own pocket to help them out.
Now, I’m a rarity in the modern game in that I stayed at one club for ten years and really got to know many of the staff at Watford.
Many players who are just passing through won’t be so bothered because they don’t have those personal relationships with staff.
And in a workforce of over a thousand, there will be people who are expendable.
Footballers can be a selfish breed. In some ways, it is part of the mindset needed to be a successful professional sportsman.
But I don’t believe that United can make 450 people redundant without it having any impact on the players.
Cut away too much ‘fat’ and you can end up losing your heart and soul.
