Manchester United have linked up with Mindflick, a performance psychometric company founded by elite performance psychologists and sporting experts.
The company has been appointed as the club’s ‘performance mindset partner’ as part of a wide-ranging multi-year collaboration.
United will use Mindflick’s performance psychometric platform to support staff across the club.
The link-up could help United climb the best soccer teams ranking at TipsGG and regain their position as the most successful club in the world.
Kirstin Furber, people director at Manchester United, said: “At an elite club, performance is shaped by far more than talent alone.
“It depends on how people think, respond under pressure, communicate and stay aligned when expectations are at their highest.
“This collaboration is about building those qualities more deliberately across our people, from players and coaches to the wider staff and leadership around them.
“It demonstrates clear investment into our people, reinforcing our commitment to developing talent and fostering a strong, inclusive culture at the club.”
Elite sports partnerships showcase Mindflick’s benefits
Mindflick was founded in 2013 by elite performance psychologists Dr Mark Bawden and Dr Pete Lindsay, alongside former England cricket captain Sir Andrew Strauss.
The Derbyshire-based firm has subsequently built up a sizeable portfolio of clients, many of which operate in elite-level sports.
They include the United Kingdom Sports Institute (UKSI), which partnered with Mindflick to embed a performance mindset across Olympic teams.
UKSI used Mindflick to support 1,400 athletes, coaches and staff across the UK high-performance system for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
Their engagement continued for the Paris 2024 Summer Games, with Mindflick integrated into UKSI’s approach to support athletes from the training ground to the podium.
Athletes gained a greater understanding of their stress responses and the strategies they needed to employ to manage them when the stakes are high.
Coaches learned how to identify behavioural patterns in their athletes and offer solutions that enabled them to perform at their best.
The results were extremely impressive, with Team GB finishing inside the top 10 of the medal table in Tokyo and Paris.
Mindflick has also enjoyed success with the Haas F1 Team, helping to redefine how their engineers think, connect and perform under pressure.
Team staff explored individual and collective mindset profiles, identifying opportunities to transform how they operated under pressure.
Haas’s engineers learned to deliver actionable insights to one another and their drivers. The team significantly improved their ability to adapt and perform under pressure.
Ratcliffe’s operational overhaul continues apace
United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe criticised United’s off-field operations in an interview with the United We Stand fanzine in December 2024.
He vowed to bring the club in line with Formula 1, where the utilisation of technology and data is central to every element of a team’s operations.
Michael Sansoni’s arrival from the Mercedes F1 team was the catalyst for a radical shift in how the club operates both on and off the field.
Sansoni has revamped United’s data capabilities, which are now being used extensively across performance, recruitment, training and other operational elements.
Dr Bawden believes that Mindflick will help United return to the pinnacle of world football by equipping their staff with the tools they need to perform well under pressure.
“Elite performance does not happen by accident,” Dr Bawden said. “It comes from building the conditions that allow people to stay focused, adapt quickly, lead well and perform under pressure, day after day.
“That is what excites us about working with Manchester United. This is an opportunity to implement Mindflick’s performance psychometric platform across one of the world’s most iconic clubs in a way that is practical, scalable and lasting.
“By combining behavioural science, mindset insight and psychometric tools, we can support both performance and culture, helping individuals and teams communicate more effectively and thrive together.”
