British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirms he wants to purchase Man Utd. Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest men, wants to complete the purchase of the Premier League giants. The Glazer family, United’s current owners, announced in November they are willing to hear the offers given by him after a 17-year reign dominated by fan protests and declining on-pitch performance.
Interested in Purchasing a Premier League Club
INEOS, Ratcliffe’s chemical firm, announced it had interest with the proposal of Glazers. “We have formally put ourselves into the process,” a spokesperson said. Ratcliffe gave an open statement that he would be interested in buying United. He supported them as a boy and remains as a fan.
The 70-year-old billionaire was among bidders for Chelsea when their ownership came up for grabs after the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. His offer of £4.25bn was rejected under the sale process ordered by the Government.
Ratcliffe is known to be popular in investing in big sports events. He also owns cycling team INEOS Grenadiers, Ligue 1 side Nice, who he took over in 2019, and FC Lausanne-Sport, a Swiss Super League club.
As well as Ratcliffe, Saudi Arab’s sports minister has previously confirmed his country’s intentions of taking over United valued at around £5bn. Technology giant Apple has been another reported interested party.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has always made it clear he wants to buy a Premier League club. A few years ago he said Premier League clubs were overvalued, which is why he went and bought Nice for €100m. He said he wasn’t going to spend billions of pounds on a Premier League club, but his attitude has changed over the past few years.
Supporter of Manchester & showing Interest to Purchase it
His company has a lot of interest in different sports, he’s somebody who grew up as a Manchester United supporter even though he regularly goes to watch Chelsea. Last year, he tried to buy Chelsea when they were put up for sale. He made a very, very late bid of about £4.25bn which matched the winning bid.
This time, as far as Manchester United are concerned, he’s the first person to show his hand. I think what we’ll see now is more people showing their hands and more people getting to look at the books. Then next month, we’ll start hearing about different bids that are being made.
I think we can anticipate Manchester United changing hands before the end of the season if the club is sold 100 per cent. INEOS bought Nice in August 2019 for €100m. The intentions have been very good, to be fair.
On the Ligue 1 and Nice scale, they have spent €200m in those three-and-a-half years they have been at the club. Before Man Utd fans say that is what we need to spend in one summer, not three years, Nice do not have the revenue Man Utd have. Ligue 1 doesn’t bring in the same money the Premier League brings in.
They have invested a lot of money in youth players and, to a certain extent, that has worked. However, in terms of results on the pitch it has been a bit underwhelming. They finished sixth in the first season under Patrick Vieira, ninth and then fifth under Christophe Galtier, who left to go to PSG.
“I think what Manchester United fans need to see is a manifesto from the new owners,” Neville said in an interview.
Manchester United can’t be handing over to an owner that basically screams against what the club stands for or what the club wants. But the sporting project needs to improve. What is it going to be? Are the new owners not going to take dividends? Are they going to make sure it’s a debt-free football club and that they’re re-investing? Maybe there’s a new stadium that needs to be built or a new training ground.
These are pledges I can think of off the top of my head that are really important for anybody bidding for Manchester United. It’s a manifesto that needs to be put forward so that the fans can understand.
There are going to be many bids in the many billions and I think if the Glazers want to exit in the right way, it would be to sell it to a party that isn’t only the highest bidder, but if they can get parties near the end to get to a figure they like, then it would be very nice for them to put something forward to the season-ticket holders.
Because the reality of it is, if the Glazers want to do this right, they have to make sure the club is going to a party whereby the fans don’t believe they’re being lumped with another owner they don’t like.
