Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been compared to Elon Musk after it emerged the Manchester United supremo was ready to cut as many as 200 jobs at the club.
Ratcliffe has been cutting costs at Old Trafford ever since buying a minority stake at the end of 2023.
Per The Guardian, the British billionaire is set to wield the axe once more as United look to balance the books.
His decisions have split opinion in Manchester ever since he arrived, with many supporters - and even some players - unhappy.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been compared to Elon Musk after it emerged the Manchester United supremo was ready to cut as many as 200 jobs at the club
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Musk famously cut many jobs at X upon buying the company in 2022.
And football finance expert Professor Rob Wilson, speaking to Spin Casino, believes that though Musk's purchase of X is 'slightly different' the comparison can be made nonetheless.
“The big thing with Manchester United is that the organisation became bloated," he said.
"Just because Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone in, he's seen as the bad guy that's making the cuts.
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“The reality is any sensible business owner would have done very similarly.
"They might have done it in a different way, might have done it over a longer period, might have gone deeper, but anybody that is smart and has made money in business will have cut costs at Manchester United because they needed to be cut.
“What we see generally, typified in US style ownership, is they look at revenue generation first and they look at cost control second.
"So go back to Manchester United, what did the Glazers do? They've tried to ramp up revenue as much as they possibly could.
“Actually what they did was they put an army of people behind that to make sure that you could sign your big deals with Snapdragon or Team Viewer before that and the big deal with Adidas and the Nike deal that came before that.
“So I think what we typically see with US ownership in the first instance is let's go after revenue, particularly in sponsorships and then we look at the other things thereafter.
“Elon Musk is slightly different because his acquisitions that we've seen, particularly at Twitter or X, is that he goes in after the cost cutting because his investment methodology is more akin to what we would see with a British investor who looks at costs first."
Ratcliffe reportedly knows his decisions at United are unpopular.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has failed to win round Man United fans since buying a minority stake in the club
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But he's eager to put the club first, especially after so many years of burning through funds.
United have spent lavishly ever since Sir Alex Ferguson's emotional retirement all the way back in 2016.
Paul Pogba, Angel Di Maria, Romelu Lukaku and Jadon Sancho are just four players who have failed to live up to expectations.
Man United have burned through millions on duds such as Paul Pogba and Jadon Sancho since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013
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But United have still got nowhere near the Premier League title in that time, with rivals Manchester City and Liverpool dominating instead.
The Red Devils currently sit 13th in the Premier League table, having won just eight of their 24 matches so far.
Ruben Amorim, who replaced Erik ten Hag in November, has struggled to turn things around - though the fallen giants have won six of their last eight matches across all competitions.
