Manchester United have decided against holding an end-of-season awards dinner after the disappointing performance of the men’s first team.
Ordinarily, the club holds a gala dinner in a suite at Old Trafford each May, when guests pay to watch members of the men’s, women’s and youth teams pick up awards for their efforts over the course of the season.
The most coveted award for the men’s team is the Sir Matt Busby player of the year award, which is voted for by the fans, and there is also a players’ player of the year award.
The Jimmy Murphy award for the best talent in the academy is also highly valued. Previous winners include Mark Hughes, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo.
It is expected that those awards, and others, will be handed out on the pitch before the final Premier League match of the season, against Aston Villa, rather than at a dinner, owing to a number of factors, the most obvious being United’s poor domestic season.
The club did the same last season when Erik ten Hag’s side finished eighth, although United went on to beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final. The players also decided to cancel the awards in the 2021-22 season, when they finished sixth with 58 points.
United still have a chance to claim some silverware this season — they have reached the Europa League final in Bilbao, where they will play Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, May 21 — but their displays in the league have been so poor that the club feel it would be wrong to hold a night of celebrations, particularly given their illustrious history.
After their 2-0 defeat by West Ham United on Sunday, United are 16th in the Premier League with 39 points. Ruben Amorim’s team have two matches remaining but, having suffered 17 league defeats, they are already guaranteed to end the campaign in their lowest position in Premier League history.
There is also a feeling internally that throwing a lavish dinner would not go down well with staff and supporters given the club have embarked on a cost-cutting drive this year, reducing the number of staff in two stages from 1,100 to a prospective number of about 700.
Amorim has also had to pay for the families and friends of about 30 of his backroom staff to attend the Europa League final. They were limited to two free tickets with the option of paying for up to eight more seats, but the head coach has now covered the additional costs.
Scheduling has also contributed to the decision not to hold an end-of-season awards dinner. United have Premier League matches against Chelsea and Villa either side of the final in Bilbao. Immediately after the Villa game on May 25, the squad fly to Malaysia for the first leg of their seven-day post-season tour of the Far East, which ends in Hong Kong.
It is expected that United will earn £8million from the two-match tour — friendlies against an all-star XI made up of players from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) and a Hong Kong XI.
With 19 goals and 19 assists, Bruno Fernandes is the overwhelming favourite to retain the Sir Matt Busby award, which he won last year. If the United captain wins the award for a fourth time, he will equal the club record, which is held jointly by David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo. Voting began on the club’s official app earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Christian Eriksen could return to Ajax this summer. The 33-year-old Danish midfielder, who joined United on a free transfer after leaving Brentford three seasons ago, is set to leave Old Trafford when his contract expires on June 30.
Eriksen has played 34 games for United this season, although 15 of them have come as a substitute. Despite failing to win their past three matches, Ajax are two points ahead of PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch title race with two matches left.
Ajax are set to make several changes to the squad regardless of whether they win the league and Eriksen is viewed as a target, along with other alumni such as Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic, who play for Girona and Fenerbahce respectively. Tadic is out of contract this summer and Blind has one year left on his deal.
Eriksen, who spent five years at Ajax and came through their academy before joining Tottenham, wants to go to a club that would give him a pathway into coaching.
Eriksen, who has made over 600 professional appearances and has 142 Denmark caps, started his coaching badges last summer.
