From 13th June if you are not paying for a seat you will not be able to check in until 48 hours to 2 hours before the flight. Used to be a week, then 4 days, now 2 days. Are they desperate for money to cover the planned strikes when people do not even know if they will get the flight they paid for, let alone the seat.
My son was on a recent Ryanair flight and found an old man sitting in his seat who said it was his. He told a stewardess who checked their boarding passes and both the them had been allocated the same seat. She said she would find my son another seat, but did not return. Luckily the flight was not full so he found an empty seat.
So even if you book and pay for a seat no guarantee you will not be booked to sit in someones lap!

Just another reason to go and tell Ryanair to stuff their Airline Company where the sun never appears to shine,they not only treat their staff appalling,but also appear to think they can do the same to the fare paying passengers.My wife and I started flying from Liverpool,so as to avoid Ryanair this has worked remarkable well, cost wise and it only takes another 35mins to get there.With car parking considerable nearer to the Airport and security a lot faster than Manchester, it is just a far better experience.