Jim Ratcliffe’s revolution at Man Utd unlikely to start until next summer with ‘some way to go’ on deal
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is hopeful his deal to acquire a minority stake in Manchester United will be completed in “weeks rather than months” but is realistic that it will be next season before he is able to make sweeping changes at Old Trafford.
i understands that while the Manchester-born billionaire’s attempts to acquire 25 per cent of United will be high on the agenda at the club’s board meeting on Thursday, nothing will be ratified there and then.
A source close to Ratcliffe told i the timeline was “weeks rather than months” before anything can be finalised owing to the complexity of a deal for a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ratcliffe is in dialogue with the Glazer family every day as he prepares to take over the footballing operations from the Americans, an insider confirmed to i. This may come as a surprise to United supporters who have barely heard a word from the much-maligned owners in 18 years.
However, there remains work to be done on the deal. Everything has to be 100 per cent watertight before anything can be announced to the public, due to all parties having signed non-disclosure agreements prior to the process beginning.
And then, once the Glazer family come to an agreement with Ratcliffe to run the football side, leaving them to concentrate on the club’s commercial arm, the new face in the boardroom must also pass the Premier League’s fit-and-proper person test.
“If it is 99 per cent done that is no use to anyone,” the source said. “There is still some way to go.
“Think of it like buying a house. The gap between agreeing a price and getting the keys is always so much longer than you think.”
Waiting to be cleared by the Premier League could take the process into the new year and push the whole takeover saga past the 12-month mark.
By the time Ratcliffe gets his feet under the table, this season is likely to be approaching its climax, so the Ineos chairman is unlikely to make any sweeping changes, as reported by i on Tuesday, before the end of the current campaign.
“In any business, timing of big decisions is crucial,” the source added. “Would it make sense for Jim to bring in fresh faces in key roles mid-season? He would have to really not like what he sees to do that.”
Planning, however, is under way. The club’s transfer record in the past decade is of real concern to Ratcliffe and an area he is keen to transform, with his own people in key positions, if necessary.
Former Tottenham head of recruitment Paul Mitchell, who used to live close to Ratcliffe in Monaco, is a frontrunner to become director of football, i understands.
However, the delay to Ratcliffe’s deal will give current football director John Murtough and chief executive Richard Arnold time to convince him that they have what it takes to oversee lasting change at Old Trafford, despite the club’s woeful start to the current campaign.