The club’s official dismissal process began last week
Evans speaking after Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat in US tour game
Jonny Evans has said that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s decision to cut 250 jobs at Manchester United was difficult to witness as the club is like a family and people the defender knows personally are involved.
Last week Ratcliffe began the formal process of redundancies, telling some staff they were officially at risk, with those in that category due to take part in United’s summer tour told they would no longer be on the plane to the US.
Evans, 36, is entering the second year of his second spell at the club. The first began when he was scouted at the age of nine, the Northern Irishman playing for the youth team in 2004, before a senior debut two years later before leaving in 2015. Evans’ wife, Ellen, worked on United’s television channel, MUTV, for 14 years, his father, Jackie, was an academy coach and his brother, Cory, a youth player from the age of 15 to his 20s.
Ratcliffe, United’s largest minority shareholder, heads the football department and has appointed Omar Berada as chief executive, Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Jason Wilcox as technical director. After Erik ten Hag’s side were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, Evans was asked if the club felt more organized now.
“They have an idea of ​​how they want the structure, but as someone who’s been in the club, I’ve had a spell away, but I’ve been in the club for a long time: a lot of people [at risk of] losing their jobs in the last two weeks,” he said. It was hard and difficult to see. The new owners believe this is the direction they want to go. But it wasn’t easy for everyone at the same time.”
Evans was asked in general how the players would feel if someone with a long history at United left. “There are people you’ve known for 20 years and the timing happened as we went on tour pretty much,” he said. “So we’ve all been a bit in the dark and I’m sure everything will sort itself out, things will be a bit clearer when we get back.
“But it was a difficult thing to see – people I’ve known for a long time. One thing about working at a club like Manchester United. But I think that’s the culture of the club.”
To Evans, they are family. “It’s for a club of such a huge size and the staff turnover – you have family members working there. People are married and my wife works at the club, my brother was at the club, my dad was at the club.” he said. “So there’s always been that feeling of people, they give everything they’ve got for the club and it’s such a great honor for them. It’s just because they love the place so much. That’s always been the beauty of the club – we have [the players] they’ve always had that relationship with our staff.
“The fact that the club is built on the academy also plays a big part in that because the players have been there for such a long time from a young age and the academy players have always set the culture. And the staff who have been there all the way, promoted them through the club and people who work with the ticket office move in departments.
“That’s been the nature of the culture, how it’s always been built and it’s a massive asset to the club. We want to keep it as long as possible.”
