When Sir Jim Ratcliffe wound his window down to greet some Manchester United fans who wanted a word after a rare victory at Craven Cottage recently, the 72-year-old was expecting a bit of warmth.

The mood in the away end had improved with Lisandro Martinez's late winner, and as Ratcliffe was driven away from the ground, some United matchgoers made their way over to his vehicle.

"Get your photograph, guys", Ratcliffe said with a smile, only he had misread the fans' intentions. "66 quid, you're taking the p***," they said. "What are you doing, mate?" they asked of Ratcliffe. "We're locals. Come on, sort it out."

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When Ratcliffe realised this wasn't the friendly interaction between fans he had expected, his face changed, and he muttered, "Oh, come on," before winding his window up. At that point, the barrage became X-rated, just as it had been in the away end earlier. Ratcliffe is surely hearing the unflattering comparisons with the Glazers.

Next Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of Ratcliffe's investment into United being confirmed, but there will be no celebration and certainly no press release listing the achievements of the last 12 months. Winning the FA Cup would be top of that list, but then it is pretty much the only achievement.

Instead, it has been a year littered with mistakes and missteps. A year when the decisions of Ratcliffe and his expensively assembled football structure have only worsened United's grim financial picture. Sticking with Erik ten Hag, giving him £200m to spend and then sacking him a few months later. The Dan Ashworth fiasco. It has been a mess.

And those paying the price aren't Ratcliffe or the people who decided to keep a lame-duck manager and back a spending spree on players who would be ill-suited to the next manager. It is the rank and file. It is the 250 staff who have been made redundant and the 100+ who are set to follow. It is the supporters being asked to fill a black hole in the accounts caused by the Glazers and exacerbated by Ineos.

There will be no happy anniversary cards waiting for Ratcliffe when he next visits Old Trafford. Any goodwill he had at the club he now controls has long since vanished among staff and supporters.

The initial redundancy program, which followed a "thorough club-wide review" of costs, led to those 250 redundancies and an estimated annual saving of £40m to £45m.

In the club's fourth-quarter financial report, it said: "As a result of this change in strategy and with the intention of creating a leaner, agile, and more sustainable structure, the club subsequently announced an employee redundancy program in July 2024, which was concluded at the end of August 2024 and resulted in the rationalization of the club’s employee base by approximately 250 roles across all departments."

That another round of redundancies is to follow within a year will be another body blow to a demoralised workforce. Ineos has slashed employee benefits, and some staff are seeking to leave of their own accord, having become disaffected with the working environment.

Supporters are also bearing the brunt of the drive to increase revenues. The decision to hike the remaining unsold tickets for this season to £66 and do away with concessions went down badly, and the club have all but confirmed in a letter to The 1958 group that price rises are to follow next season.

Ratcliffe will see all of this as a necessary evil. He believes that a combination of cost-cutting and revenue-raising will again deliver the funds required to build a title-winning team. If United gets there, he will probably find that his relationship with staff and supporters will change.

But right now, there is no winning hearts and minds. It has taken less than a year for any optimism and excitement to disappear. He got that message outside Craven Cottage last month.