Johnny Phillips: Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival provides optimism for Manchester United’s fans
Possibly the longest of drawn-out takeover sagas ended at the start of this week.
Although, we cannot really call it a takeover can we?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has acquired a 25 per cent stake of Manchester United, which will give him control of football operations after injecting $1.6billion into the club.
The announcement on Sunday afternoon concluded 13 months of talks about a potential takeover at the Old Trafford club.
Ratcliffe has acquired the stake for $33 per share in a deal that a statement said “will include all aspects of the men’s and women’s football operations and academies” for his Ineos group, the fourth-largest chemical company in the world.
After the Glazers initially suggested they were open to a full sale of the club, supporters hoped that new owners would be installed by now, but this halfway measure sees a fresh injection of cash and – for United fans at least – the hope that a new football strategy will see the team move forward on the pitch.
“We all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football,” said Ratcliffe after the news was announced.
A further injection of $300million – on top of the sum being paid to acquire the shareholding – will be used for the football infrastructure, which includes improvements to the crumbling Old Trafford stadium. As part of that grand plan it is expected that Sir Dave Brailsford, Ineos director of sport, and Jean-Claude Blanc, CEO of Ineos Sport and a former executive at Juventus and Paris St-Germain, will take up seats on the Manchester United board.
