Quartet of coaches leave Man Utd Academy after combined 50+ years

A quartet of Academy coaches have left Manchester United after more than 50 years’ combined service as part of a club-wide restructure by minority owners INEOS.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS, which took control of footballing operations at United earlier this year, is looking to shed about a fifth of the overall workforce. Staff were informed of the cuts in early July and the formal redundancy process began in early August.

The Academy staff leaving include Neil Harris, the Lead Youth Development Phase Coach, who had been with the club for 21 years, and Stuart Leicester, who was Lead Coach on the Manchester United Schoolboy Scholarship Scheme (MANUSS) and had been with the Academy for 23 years.

The duo had worked with, and helped to develop, future first-team stars including Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo.

Writing on LinkedIn, Harris, a UEFA A Licence coach, said: “As I bid farewell today to Manchester United after 21 memorable years, I want to express a massive thank you to the remarkable children (some now men with families themselves) that I've had the privilege of supporting on their Academy journeys and beyond.

“Thank you to them for the unbelievable memories and for shaping me as a person and coach. A heartfelt thank you to the dedicated staff members I've had the honour of working alongside over the past 21 years, too many to name, many of whom work tirelessly behind the scenes.

“I’m extremely excited for what’s next, and for the new opportunities emerging in both the football and wider sporting world."

The other two coaches who have left the Academy today are Foundation Phase Lead Goalkeeping Coach Chris Backhouse and Lead Youth Development Phase Coach Rich Ashcroft.

Backhouse, a former apprentice keeper at Sunderland, had joined United in April 2016. Ashcroft joined in January 2021, having previously been Foundation Phase Lead at Burnley and Head of Coaching at Rochdale.

Privately, United inisist the job cuts are not only about cost cutting, but also about improving performance and efficiency, and that they will actually be recruiting and growing in certain areas of their operation over the coming months.