Sir Jim Ratcliffe spent £1.25 billion to buy a 27.7 per cent stake in Manchester United and has taken charge of the day-to-day operations at the club since making the investment
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has revealed his intentions for the club in a rare interview.
The INEOS founder detailed his plans in addition to outlining several obstacles that are present moving forward. In a discussion with Bloomberg, the Red Devils chief discussed the Premier League, Nice, transfers and his ambitions for the Old Trafford club.
Ratcliffe completed his purchase of 27.7 per cent of United in February and has taken an active role since. The British billionaire has made a whole host of changes on and off the pitch, with the likes of Sir Dave Brailsford proving influential while the club’s hierarchy is overhauled.
Mirror Football takes a look at some of the biggest points to be taken away from Ratcliffe’s time in front of the camera.
Real Madrid ambitions
It will come as little surprise that Ratcliffe will want to take Manchester United to the very top. Outlining Real Madrid’s approach is not necessarily customary when discussing the shrewdest operators, even with the unmatched success the La Liga side have managed in Europe.
“There’s room for improvement everywhere we look at Manchester United, and we will improve everything,” explained Ratcliffe. “We want to be competing for the Premiership every year and the Champions League every year. That’s where we need to be, where Real Madrid is today, but it’ll take time.
“I think Real Madrid have done a fabulous job. There’s an interesting statistic. If you look at the 10 seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill left. Manchester United’s net spend on players is £1.1billion. United have not been mean with the chequebook. Real Madrid’s over the same time is £200m, which is surprising when you hear that because today they have a squad where six or seven players are valued at more than 100m euros and Manchester United don’t have any. And Real Madrid have probably built probably the finest football stadium in the world using the same chequebook.”
Transfer blow
Ratcliffe also revealed that United have already been dealt their first transfer blow of the summer. A UEFA ruling has already ensured that a player from Nice, believed to be Jean-Clair Todibo, cannot be permitted to make the move to United.
Transfers cannot be made by clubs competing in the same competitions, in this instance the Europa League, when they share owners.
“We’ve got a player in Nice who was interested in Manchester United and he probably has the capability,” Ratcliffe said. “They’ve said [UEFA] we can sell him to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United. But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves.”
United’s co-owner also detailed what the club’s approach will be moving forward. Despite citing Real Madrid as inspiration, Ratcliffe does not expect to make a Kylian Mbappe-like signing immediately.
“You have to look at the balance sheet,” he said. “I don’t think the solution is to buy a Mbappe. We’re more grassroots. One player isn’t going to solve the problem at Manchester United. We need to build a balanced squad and we need to make progress with the squad. Ultimately maybe you top, top it off with one or two players like Mbappe, it’s not the solution today.”
Timeframe to the top
For those hoping for a quick turnaround following United’s worst-ever Premier League finish, patience may be required. Ratcliffe does not believe that a solution will be found in just a single window where a combination of sales and purchases will be completed to keep in line with Premier League and UEFA financial rules.
The 71-year-old also expressed a degree of frustration with the wait to install his new hierarchy. United are yet to come to an agreement with Newcastle for Dan Ashworth, while Omar Berrada’s arrival from rivals Man City was delayed as the chief executive was placed on gardening leave.
Only technical director Jason Wilcox has been able to arrive and begin his work quickly. “I’m not confident we’ll solve all of the problems in the first transfer window, no,” explained Ratcliffe.
“It will take time. Omar, Dan, Jason are key pillars of the sports side, we’ve only got Jason in place. We’re sort of a bit handicapped in that sense, so I think we’ll do a fairly good job. It will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place”
Premier League warning
While Ratcliffe made clear he was against a regulator being put in place by the government, the United chief also has plenty of concerns about the Premier League. He does not want to see the division relinquish its place as the best in the world and highlighted limitations that ‘anchoring’ could put on clubs following the latest change to profit and sustainability rules.
“If you start interfering too much, bringing too much regulation in, then you finish up with the Manchester City issue, you finish up with the Everton issue, you finish up with the Nottingham Forest issue – on and on and on,” said the INEOS boss.
“If you’re not careful the Premier League is going to finish up spending more time in court than it is thinking about what’s good for the league. We have got the best league in the world, don’t ruin that league for heaven’s sake.”
Ratcliffe added: “[Anchoring] would inhibit the top clubs in the Premier League. And the last thing you want is for the top clubs in the Premier League not to be able to compete with Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG – that’s absurd. And if it does, it then ceases to be the finest league in the world.”
Erik ten Hag’s position
When is a vote of confidence not a vote of confidence? Possibly when discussions have occurred about a replacement that never truly came to fruition.
Erik ten Hag could yet see a new contract offer after seeing his position confirmed in the Old Trafford hotseat, but Ratcliffe’s latest words were not the biggest vindication of his influence. The Dutchman’s role may have even been somewhat diminished by the owner’s words.
“The coach isn’t the central issue at Manchester United,” said Ratcliffe. Ten Hag at least is not deemed the problem.
“It’s a sports club,” he explained. “It needs to be competitive, it needs a degree of intensity, but with a supportive side to it because you are dealing with players who are relatively young. It hasn’t had that type of environment historically.”
The relationship between Nice and Manchester United
The two teams both qualifying for the Europa League has already added a complication that Ratcliffe was not expecting. Nice have been positioned in the hands of a trust to accommodate UEFA rules.
There is no intention to sell the Ligue 1 side, however. Instead, Ratcliffe hopes his portfolio can work to an advantage as the multi-club model becomes more popular among football’s giants. The hierarchy, while unsurprising has been made clear in this instance.
“It’s not our intention to sell Nice,” said Ratcliffe. “I like the concept of the multiclub and Nice will be complementary for Manchester United. You can blood younger players in Nice because Manchester United sit at a higher level. It’s tough to bring an 18 or 19-year-old, occasionally you get a Kobbie Mainoo, but it’s difficult to blood those players but at Nice you could do that. That would benefit Nice.
“Because of Brexit, it is difficult now to contract younger, generational talents in Europe but Nice could do that. If there’s a fantastic 15-year-old in France we can sign him for Nice and use Nice as a conduit to Manchester United later on.”
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