Manchester United will come under major pressure on Thursday to end their “grotesque” failure to pay all workers there the “real” Living Wage after making Alexis Sanchez the highest-paid player in Premier League history during the transfer window.

An open letter to the executive vice-chairman of the world’s richest football club, Ed Woodward, will be handed in at Old Trafford at 10am urging him to address the plight of stadium staff campaigners claim are “struggling to make ends meet” and are forced to choose “between putting the heating on or a hot meal”.

Signed by community leaders, including United’s MP and the Bishop of Salford, as well as a senior fan representative, the letter has also been published digitally in a bid to attract further co-signatories and shame the club into action.

Thursday’s activity, featuring a demonstration outside Old Trafford, comes more than four months after the Daily Telegraph exposed the extent to which a commitment in 2015 by Premier League clubs to pay an independently-calculated living wage to all permanent staff was being undermined by their ongoing use of cheaper casual labour.

The Telegraph also revealed in November that both United and Manchester City were facing political pressure to join Liverpool in pledging to ensure everyone who carried out work on their behalf would receive at least £8.75 per hour.

Led by civil society alliance Manchester Citizens, part of campaigning charity Citizens UK, Thursday’s action is accompanied by a release headlined ‘Manchester Divided’, which proclaims Sanchez’s signing has further exposed “a grotesque tale of two halves”, in which five of the highest-paid players in the Premier League play for United or City - including Paul Pogba, Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic - while “low-paid staff at the Theatre of Dreams are facing a real nightmare to meet the real cost of living”.

Both City and United pay their players huge wages credit: Getty images

It also claims Sanchez makes almost as much during one half of football than the annual salary of some cleaning, catering and security staff who work at Old Trafford (£14,625), that it would take someone on the minimum wage 41 years to earn the £600,000 the Chilean takes home each week, and that his agent’s reported £15 million fee would be enough to fund Living Wage pay rises of almost £2,500 for 6,100 low-paid workers.

One such worker at Old Trafford, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said: “We all share the same employer and it would be great if the club could think about all workers wages, from football stars to stadium cleaners and caterers.

“We understand footballers need to be rewarded, but paying a Living Wage to everyone working at the club would show Manchester United is not only a great club but a great employer as well.”

Reverend Ian Rutherford, chairman of Greater Manchester Citizens and City Centre Minister at Methodist Central Hall, Manchester, said: “As the winter transfer window closes, many workers at Old Trafford will be choosing between putting the heating on or a hot meal.

“We’ve heard many stories about the real cost of life on low pay for workers at Old Trafford, many of whom are employed directly and struggling to live with dignity.”

Neil Jameson, executive director of Citizens UK, added: “Not only is Manchester United turning a blind eye to the harsh realities faced by the undervalued low-paid staff it employs, the club seemingly has a bottomless pit to pay players.

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“It’s time they showed leadership by getting their house in order and doing the right thing by those who work hard for them off the pitch.”

Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston said: “I’m proud to be the member of parliament for Manchester United. I’d be even prouder to see them become a Living Wage employer and an example to other businesses in Greater Manchester.”

Declaring its salaries to be “competitive”, United said in response: “We have many variations of contracts in place due to the size of the club, although all permanent employees, whether engaged on a full- or part-time hours basis, are paid the Voluntary Living Wage, in line with the Premier League agreement.

“Staff welfare is very important to the club and we consistently score in the top quartile of employers measured in independent surveys on staff satisfaction.”

Chelsea, Everton and West Ham United are the only accredited Living Wage Employers in the Premier League, with Liverpool poised to join them after committing to paying at least £8.75 per hour from this summer.

:: Anyone wanting to co-sign the Manchester Citizens letter to Woodward can do so here: http://www.citizensuk. org/co_sign_our_letter_to_ manchester_united