Two members of Manchester United’s senior leadership team are expected to leave the club as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s second round of redundancies, which is stepping up this week.
Richard Hawkins, director of football insights and innovations, and David Harrison, director of football operations, have both been informed that they will no longer have roles in the future and exit terms are being discussed.
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They are two of the most high-profile figures affected by the job cuts imposed by Ratcliffe, who wants the employee numbers reduced by up to 200 people – eight months after letting 250 staff go. Combined, the redundancies equate to around a third of the previous workforce.
Staff at risk of losing their jobs have been having meetings with HR since Monday to find out their fate, which presents uncomfortable timing on the eve of United’s Europa League semi-final first leg against Athletic Club in Bilbao.
There is a legal timeframe for this step in the redundancy process after chief executive Omar Berrada announced the job cuts at the end of February. On the commercial side, many in partnerships are set to leave, while the football department has also been hit.
Harrison held one of the most senior football positions in the previous regime at United, overseeing all operational aspects of the Carrington training ground, including facilities, catering and security, as well as travel and accommodation for the first team, and football administration matters, such as player registrations.
He has also been at the heart of the Carrington refurbishment and will be staying to oversee the move back into the upgraded facility. He is highly regarded across football, after 27 years at Everton where he would often be pictured with new recruits having assisted as club secretary. His social skills have enabled him to communicate from boardroom and dressing room.
Collette Roche, United’s chief operations officer, shifted from a stadium focus to provide an additional layer on football operations at the time of the reshuffle, but it has been communicated internally she will change priorities again to become chief development officer in charge of the proposed new stadium once the renovation work is finished at Carrington in July. Roche, known at United for her effectiveness, is expected to ensure the £2billion project is deliverable. A new appointment on the football operations side is expected at that stage.
Roche’s role altered when Ratcliffe brought in Gary Hemingway, an INEOS operations director, to oversee the running of Old Trafford as well as football data analytics.
John Murtough, United’s then football director, hired Harrison in March 2023 having worked with him at Everton. Hawkins was also part of Murtough’s senior team, rising through the ranks since joining United in 2008, during Sir Alex Ferguson’s golden winter to his career.
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Hawkins was first appointed as human performance manager, then head of athletic training services, and head of physical performance, before assuming his current job in March 2023. It is a role which has seen him explore advanced methods and technologies to enhance United’s sports science across men’s, women’s and academy teams and bring an integrated approach.
Harrison and Hawkins are following Steve Brown, United’s director of scouting, out of United. Brown was also given prominence at the club by Murtough but he has decided to leave amid the scouting cutbacks rather than accept a new position under technical director Jason Wilcox and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell. Part of the reason Dan Ashworth left as sporting director is because he was resistant to reducing the numbers in the football department.
Vivell’s initial interim status at United has now been confirmed as permanent, and the same is expected to happen with Sam Erith, the performance director appointed in September.
United are making more hires, with Michael Sansoni starting work this week heading up the club’s data department. Sansoni has arrived at the club after leaving his position as senior performance simulation engineer for the Mercedes Formula 1 team. INEOS is a shareholder and principal partner to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team and Sansoni’s name came up when Ratcliffe was searching for new data recruits.
Sansoni, who graduated from the University of Southampton with a first-class degree in aerospace engineering in 2015, will oversee United’s team of data analysts.
Assisting significantly in that area is Dan Nichol, who has been hired by the club as a consultant. Nichol completed a master’s degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Oxford in 2013, and a DPhil in computer science in 2017. According to his LinkedIn profile, he spent 20 months as head of research and development at 777 Partners, the U.S. private equity company which owns Genoa, Standard Liege, and Vasco da Gama, and tried to buy Everton. Nichol’s work at 777, which ended in April 2024, focused on data engineering and quantitative research.
(Photo of Richard Hawkins and David Harrison: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images / Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
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