The billionaire celebrated one year as part-owner of the Premier League club this week.
A special report published by The Telegraph has revealed that Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe didn’t know who the women’s captain was when she gave her new boss a tour of Carrington training ground last year.
According to James Ducker, Ratcliffe asked former captain Katie Zelem what she did at the club, despite her being a long-time player and England international.
Ducker wrote: “Ratcliffe said the perception he was not interested in the women’s team was ‘slightly misguided’ but he has made it clear that the men’s side are the priority.
“That seemed evident from the outset when he redirected questions about the women’s team to his advisers in his first interviews with reporters last February.”
He continued: “There was also an unfortunate episode when Ratcliffe was being given a tour of the women’s facilities at Carrington and asked Katie Zelem, then the captain of the women’s team, what she did at the club.
“Like Ratcliffe, Zelem was born in Failsworth near Oldham. The midfielder, now with Angel City in Los Angeles, had first joined United as a eight-year-old in the girls’ centre of excellence and went on to represent England on 12 occasions.”
The report also revealed that men’s team captain Bruno Fernandes and veteran goalkeeper Tom Heaton intervened when club owners were stingy with their ticket allocations for friends and family at the Women’s FA Cup final last May – which United won, beating Spurs 4-0 at Wembley.
Fernandes and Heaton covered the cost of additional tickets using dressing room “fine” money accrued over the course of the season.
“It was a touching gesture and it would not be the last of its kind,” wrote Ducker. “When Fernandes discovered that free travel for staff had been scrapped for the men’s FA Cup final and they would instead have to pay £20 for a coach trip to Wembley, the Portugal midfielder offered to pay for all of the usual extras out of his own pocket.
“His offer was rejected, the feeling being among staff that it would have reflected badly on the new regime.”
At Christmas, staff at Manchester United saw their annual Christmas bonus of £100 replaced by a £40 voucher for Marks & Spencer.
The decision to reduce the festive bonus came just days after the Christmas party at the club was cancelled. The club hierarchy decided a festive party would be inappropriate following a year of redundancies.
