The reckless fantasy of austerity as a panacea is coming for European football | Aaron Timms

The same spirit of austerity that is rising with particular viciousness in the US under the Trump administration is beginning to sweep through European soccer.

After years in which runaway inflation in player salaries and near-total absence of financial regulation saw big clubs across Europe rack up unsustainable expenses and debts, a new era of fiscal rectitude is upon us.

Manchester United has shelled out 4.1 m to get rid of sporting director Dan Ashworth and 10.6 m to cut Erik Ten Hag.

The club paid 36 m servicing its debt last season , and cumulative interest payments on the debt generated to fund the Glazers’ 2005 acquisition recently hit $ 1bn .

The modern fantasy of austerity was born in the 1990s , when the end of the Cold War fed triumphalist narratives about the invincibility of market conservatism.

Ineos announced it was shutting down the Grangemouth refinery last year owing to soft demand and soaring costs.

More than 400 jobs will likely be lost when the plant ceases operation this summer .

The limp decline of the Gragemouth plant shows how suicidal austerity thinking at a smaller scale can be.

The vampiric snips that Ratcliffe has implemented make Manchester United look like a small club that's getting smaller.