Four Manchester United staff members leave Old Trafford amid job cuts

Four members of Manchester United staff with a combined service of more than 50 years have departed from the academy, amid ongoing job cuts.

United started to inform members of staff that they were at risk of redundancy in June and individual meetings were held with members of staff and departments. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's plans to axe jobs have been controversial and around 250 people are set to lose their jobs, with multiple staff members having already left the club.

Ratcliffe's review of the club's operations found United had the highest employee count in the Premier League and the decision was made to shed close to a fifth of the workforce.

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A number of academy staff, including coaches, have been affected by the club-wide redundancy programme amid United's objective is to have an agile, best-in-class staff equipped to support the next stage of the youth system's evolution, but the changes have split fan opinion. And four members of the academy staff have become the latest to depart.

Neil Harris, who worked as the lead youth development phase coach, had been with United for 21 years and has left the academy. Stuart Leicester worked as the lead coach on the Manchester United Schoolboy Scholarship Scheme (MANUSS) and has departed after 23 years of service.

Harris and Leicester have helped develop several players for the first-team during their time with United, including Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay.

Chris Blackhouse was the foundation phase lead goalkeeping coach and Rich Ashcroft worked as the lead youth development phase coach - they have also both