Manchester United have ended a £40,000-a-year donation to a charity supporting former players as Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues to make swingeing cuts to expenses at Old Trafford.

The club previously made a yearly donation in the form of quarterly payments of £10,000 to the Association of Former Manchester United Players (AFMUP), a charity set up in 1985 to support those players who had represented the club, with the majority not making enough to retire after their playing days had ended.

But as Ratcliffe continues to take a series of drastic cost-cutting measures to ease United's dire financial worries, his latest penny-pinching measure has seen the donation come to an end. Since his £1.25bn investment into the club was confirmed in February, Ratcliffe has made 250 staff redundant, hiked ticket prices and ended concessionary rates, and put an end to Sir Alex Ferguson's £2m-a-year ambassadorial role.

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Staff had their bonus slashed from £100 to a £40 Marks & Spencer voucher, while free tickets and club transport for the FA Cup final in May, long-standing perks for staff, were also stopped.

A club source said United "greatly appreciates" the role played by AFMUP in maintaining relationships between former players and plans to continue working with them, supporting their events, and participating in their activities. However, the decision to axe the £40,000-a-year funding was made because the club continues to make significant losses.

The source added: "Our focus is on putting the club back on a sustainable financial footing so that we are in a position to invest in our priorities of achieving success on the pitch, and renewing our infrastructure."

Jim Elms, a former United player and trustee of AFMUP, told The Sun that the charity only found out the funding was ending when they contacted the club to ask about payments that hadn't been made.

“We sent a ­letter to say we’ve not been paid. Nobody came out and told us so we had to send another letter," he said. "That’s when we started hearing things that it was going to be the end of us.”

Elms revealed that United's chief executive, Omar Berrada, called him just before Christmas to explain the move.

"It didn’t go too well," he said. “Omar was non-committal. He’s going to meet us again in January but he said he couldn’t see it changing.

“He didn’t seem to think that we were a necessity. We’ve ran it since 1985. Keeping the old players together. Looking after the ones that couldn’t pay for funerals.

“I just can’t understand them myself. It’s ridiculous.”