Now it’s official: Jim Ratcliffe is a new shareholder of Manchester United. The owner of the well-known multinational Ineos has acquired 25% of the shares of the English club, thus joining the Glazer family, in command since 2005.
The 71-year-old, a huge Red Devils fan, paid the record sum of 1.44 billion euros, the highest amount ever paid to acquire a minority share of a club. The new shareholder will also guarantee 300 million dollars for investments in infrastructure, demonstrating great ambitions: “We will bring the club back to the top of English, European and world football – he assured -. Under the agreement I will have in hand the management of the total football operations “Hard work awaits us, until now the great commercial potential guaranteed by this historic club has not been fully exploited.” Under the agreement Ratcliffe will also have greater voting power on the Board of Directors, where two of his trusted men, Jean Claude Blanc and Sir Dave Brailsford, will sit.
Manchester United reaches agreement for Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS, to acquire up to a 25% shareholding in the Company.#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 24, 2023
Also Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al Thani of Qatar was trying to buy the club, but abandoned the deal, saying he would not increase his offer by $6 billion, thus leaving the field open to Ratcliffe. From today a new era begins for the team led by ten Hag, protagonist of yet another disappointing season. Onana and his teammates are returning from their eighth league defeat against West Ham, which relegates them to eighth place in the league. A turning point was needed and perhaps now the long-awaited turning point has arrived.
Who is Jim Ratcliffe
According to Bloomberg it is the 100th richest man in the world. He is the founder and owner of Ineos, a large multinational in the chemical sector. Ineos also owns the NiceFrench Ligue 1 club, FC Lausanne-Sport, a Swiss Super League team, and works with Racing Club Abidjan of the Ivory Coast’s Ligue One. Furthermore, Ratcliffe has already got his hands on one of the most successful teams in British sport, namely the cycling Team Sky which dominated the last Tours de France and which now participates in competitions under the name Ineos Grenadiers.
United’s crisis
For 18 years the Manchester club has belonged to Glazer family, also owner of the American football franchise, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whose management has been much criticized and discussed. Although it is one of the most successful teams in the history of English football, as well as a brand known throughout the world, United have not won the Premier League for ten years, and their last international trophy dates back to 2017, when they won theEuropa League. Despite enormous investments and a continuous turnover of managers and coaches, the Red Devils have no longer even approached the levels achieved when he sat on the bench Sir Alex Fergusonmanager and coach between 1986 and 2013. But not only that, in the last decade United has also lost its city supremacy, with the rise of Guardiola’s City, consolidated dominator in the Premier League and winner of the last Champions League.
2023-12-24 21:13:00
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