David Ornstein Stunned by 'Completely Unnecessary' News Out of Man Utd

Manchester United, under INEOS, are looking at ways to save their finances, and according to Mike Keegan of The Daily Mail, the Man United Disabled Supporters Association (MUDSA) could see their £40,000 budget slashed in half - The Athletic's David Ornstein has now reacted, labelling the cuts 'unnecessary'.

David Ornstein of The Athletic, who was discussing the situation on Sky Sports' Back Pages Podcast, suggested that this news is 'terrible optics', and while no final decision has yet been made by the executives of the club, he doesn't believe the murmurings of this making its way into the public domain is a good outlook for them.

Terrible optics, unfortunately, with this story. No decision has been made, as Mike points out in the story, so they might not go through with it. But the fact they're considering it doesn't reflect well. It's not going to play well toward the public, as it may do with investors. I think everything's on the table - No stone being left unturned.

INEOS Making Cuts Everywhere

Man United are a club in financial disarray

When Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS joined the club back in January, their priority was looking for ways where savings could be made financially, in order to be able to put more into the first team squad. This decision saw 250 redundancies made, corporate credit cards cancelled, and club legend, and former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, also lost his ambassadorial role too.

For MUDSA, they may just be the next to fall in line, and their potential £20,000 loss is something that Ornstein considers as 'peanuts' for the club, especially with how much they have spent on transfers 'that haven't worked out' and contracts and staffing.

Sir Alex Ferguson's lost his ambassadorial role at £2 million per year. I mean, this feels like peanuts. The amount Manchester United have spent on transfers that haven't worked out, on contracts, on staff, managerial severance, it feels completely unnecessary. But times are tough financially at Old Trafford, and they're looking at every sort of avenue. So this feels bizarre. And it's one that they didn't need publicly, but perhaps they feel privately it's something they need to consider.

With the money Man United donates to MUDSA, members are able to receive things such as subsidised tickets to events such as a Christmas Party, while other events include annual dinners, and bowling days for their younger members. It's also thought to be very popular with the players, who often attend these events to give back to the community.

The cuts that MUDSA could yet see could be devastating for those who benefit from it, with them also working closely with the Manchester United Foundation, who go out into the local community and deliver sporting events for those with mixed abilities, with the aim of using football to 'engage and inspire' young people in Greater Manchester and elsewhere.

Despite coming to the club with big visions of getting Man United back to the top, they find themselves in the lower half of the Premier League table in 13th place, and talks of cuts to organisations like MUDSA could just throw more flames into the fire with the growing unhappiness building around the club from the fans.

Click here to read article