Cost-cutting will see Sir Alex Ferguson leave Man Utd ambassador role

Sir Alex Ferguson will take a step back at Manchester United as he relinquishes a lucrative ambassador role he holds with the club. The role, worth a reported £2million-a-year will end as part of a club cost-cutting exercise.

Sir Alex won 38 trophies at United during a managerial reign spanning nearly 27 years, including 13 Premier League titles and two European Cups. Ferguson is understood to have reached an amicable agreement with the club to cease his ambassador duties when the season ends.

Ferguson always remains welcome at Old Trafford, United sources said, and he will remain a non-executive director of the football club board.

It’s understood to be part of a wider cost-cutting exercise by United under Ineos, which has had responsibility for football operations at the club since its founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed the purchase of a 27.7 per cent stake earlier this year.

Ferguson turns 83 in December, and the ambassador role is understood to be one of a number of time-consuming duties he is planning to give up. Club sources say there was no acrimony over this matter, with Ratcliffe having met Ferguson face to face to say the club could no longer sustain the ambassador payments.

The Athletic reported Ferguson was listed as having received £2.16million for his ambassador duties in United’s 2014 accounts. Last month United posted losses of £113.2million for the year ending June 30, 2024, but the club insisted they are compliant with the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) where breaches are punishable by points deductions.

The club are working to put themselves on a more sustainable financial footing and have instigated a number of cost-saving measures, including a redundancy programme which cut 250 jobs from headcount across all departments by the end of August.

Want more on the issues affecting the North? Our podcast, From the North answers the questions that matter to our region.