Man Utd takeover: ‘Sour’ Ratcliffe, Glazer fallout awaited with INEOS to ‘blame’; ‘non-negotiable’ revealed
The Glazer family are reportedly in a win-win situation as Sir Jim Ratcliffe ‘will be the lightning rod for blame’ if his Manchester United takeover goes poorly.
It was confirmed towards the end of 2023 that Ratcliffe has an agreement in place to purchase a 25% stake in Man Utd for around £1.25bn.
Ratcliffe is waiting for his Man Utd takeover to be ratified by the Premier League but this is expected to happen at some point in February.
While the INEOS chief will not become United’s majority stakeholder right away, he is taking control of footballing matters at Old Trafford and huge changes are already in the process of being made.
Omar Berrada has been snatched from Man City to be United’s new chief executive, while Dan Ashworth and Paul Mitchell are being linked with the Premier League club as they eye a new director of football.
After being heavily criticised over their handling of Man Utd for several years, the Glazer family now find themselves in a cushy position with Ratcliffe at risk of backlash if plans go awry.
A report from Laurie Whitwell for The Athletic points out that the Glazers are ‘recognising past failures’ but Ratcliffe is going to be the ‘lightning rod for blame’. He explained.
‘Berrada’s appointment provided a quick, clear signal that the Glazers are recognising past failures. The statement announcing his arrival, signed off by Joel and Avram Glazer, made pointed reference to putting football “back at the heart of everything we do”.
‘It has been remarked internally that no amount of criticism of what has come before will upset the Glazers because if Ratcliffe can return United to the peak of Europe, then the value of their remaining shares will rise, and if the opposite happens, triggering unrest among supporters, then the British billionaire will be the lightning rod for blame.
‘This is the honeymoon period in a marriage of convenience and there are invested observers keen to see whether there is any strain if results do sour.’
Whitwell has also claimed that Ratcliffe has made it clear that he ‘does not care about making money’ through Man Utd and it is a ‘non-negotiable’ that he is with the club to win trophies.
‘Ratcliffe started those gatherings as he had done during the staff summits by stating he does not care about making money given he has enough from his oil and chemicals empire.
‘He said he was at Old Trafford to win trophies, specifically the Premier League and Champions League, describing that ambition as “non-negotiable” and insisting it should be the only metric of success for clubs of United’s stature.
‘He also expanded on his plans for stadium renovation, expressing a desire to develop the site into more of a campus for the club and an asset to the community. He said there is untapped potential in land surrounding the ground that United own and feels that by establishing better links with local authorities and civic leaders, the regeneration can happen quicker than the projections he has seen.’
