Man Utd staff 'can only eat soup and sandwiches' as Sir Jim Ratcliffe cuts lunch budget

Manchester United staff can only have soup and sandwiches for lunch in Sir Jim Ratcliffe's latest penny pinching exercise.

The controversial co-owner has been frantically cutting costs behind the scenes at Old Trafford since taking over last February. And the INEOS chief's latest attempts to slash the budget have seen him scrap lunch options for everybody but the first team.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has cut more costs

Even coaches and analysts have been told they can only have the limited lunch menu, according to The Sun. United declined to comment when approached by Daily Star Sport

Billionaire tax exile Ratcliffe has already axed more than 250 staff members at United.

And today staff were told of plans to cut a further 150 to 200 jobs at a lunchtime meeting. Daily Star Sport revealed last week how staff have been invited to the meeting to be told of the club's plans to make more people jobless.

Ratcliffe has cautioned that United are now at serious risk of breaching the Premier League's Profit and Sustainability Rules, having been on thin ice in recent years.

The Red Devils have also threatened staff with the sack if they leak information from within the club.

In an email leaked to the media, United's chief executive Omar Berrada warned staff that revealing club information will be considered "gross misconduct", which could get them sacked.

Berrada contacted employees in the wake of being left seething that private news about potential staff redundancies was made public.

“Anyone disclosing information outside of the club is breaching their obligations of confidentiality, and we are very clear that this will be considered gross misconduct,” the email said, according to the Daily Telegraph.

“To protect the club and its colleagues, additional measures are being put in place to prevent future breaches of confidentiality and also identify any persons responsible.”