Man Utd takeover: The questions facing Jim Ratcliffe
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the man who bankrolled an attempt to break the mythical 2-hour barrier for the men’s marathon, so we can assume the INEOS founder likes a challenge.
When he walks into Old Trafford to be anointed part owner of Manchester United in the coming days he will certainly get that.
Not only will he face a wall of suspicion from fans wondering why he’s gone into partnership with the unpopular Glazer family – he’ll also be assuming control of football operations at a time when United seem as far as ever from competing with the Premier League’s elite.
Ratcliffe and his advisors are not short of confidence and believe they have the answers. Expect significant changes and investment, sources close to INEOS have told i. Just like the sub 2-hour marathon, they say, smart money can buy success.
There are a lot of unanswered questions here though, not least the structure of the deal and whether it comes with cast-iron guarantees that the Glazers’ majority stake will be phased out in time.
There are also practical, day-to-day concerns for Ratcliffe to contend with. If he decides to fire a coach or restructure the scouting department at great cost, does he have carte blanche to do so even when 75 per cent of the club is owned by others?
Are we really supposed to buy the fact that football operations can be guillotined from commercial ones? As the Mason Greenwood decision illustrated, quite often these things can straddle more than one area.
There will be a lot of voices in the room when Manchester United take big decisions now, and no shortage of egos. Power lines will need to be strictly defined if the club are to make progress.
Fuming from the sidelines are the Qatari bid team, led by the mysterious Sheikh Jassim bin Al-Thani. The uncertainty around him, his intentions and how closely the bid was linked to the Gulf state were never really cleared up and that probably didn’t help.
He felt he could be a dream owner and £1.4bn of investment was earmarked for the club. Sources talked of modernising everything, making Old Trafford a venue fit for purpose and putting a team on the pitch that would compete with any in the world.
“A new vision,” sources close to Sheikh Jassim said. But his refusal to pay a premium for the club or play the Glazers’ game means he walks away with nothing.
The big winners are undoubtedly the Glazer family. Reviled by huge sections of the club’s fanbase and presiding over an undoubtedly diminished Manchester United, they have nevertheless managed to secure more than £1bn to fund sorely needed infrastructure improvements while retaining a 75 per cent stake in the club.
It’s an astonishing triumph for the clan, with Ratcliffe’s desire to sort out the football side of things even giving them plausible deniability next time things go wrong on the pitch.
They are impressively calculating in their approach, immune to sentiment or what seems obviously best for the institution they own. From day one their motivation has been to drive the best deal for them, not for the club.
And they’ve certainly done that here, whatever the noises coming from the Ratcliffe camp about this being the start of the journey towards a full takeover or his INEOS group taking on football operations.
Underpinning their desire to cling on to a majority stake in Manchester United is their belief that the valuation of football clubs will sky rocket in the years to come.
Advances in technology, the growth of the game in the Middle East and future TV deals are all there to be exploited, they feel.
As their wholehearted enthusiasm for the European Super League shows, they will be ruthless if they feel there’s money in it for them and the £6bn valuation might end up looking skinny if the Premier League continues on its current trajectory.
In getting everything they wanted, they’ve played a blinder. If only they showed the same acumen for running a football club, United might not need the sort of repairs Ratcliffe will now take responsibility for overseeing.
