{"id":155160,"date":"2024-02-23T15:06:46","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T15:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/23\/6-takeaways-from-sir-jim-ratcliffes-first-interviews-as-man-utd-co-owner\/"},"modified":"2024-02-23T15:06:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T15:06:46","slug":"6-takeaways-from-sir-jim-ratcliffes-first-interviews-as-man-utd-co-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/02\/23\/6-takeaways-from-sir-jim-ratcliffes-first-interviews-as-man-utd-co-owner\/","title":{"rendered":"6 takeaways from Sir Jim Ratcliffe\u2019s first interviews as Man Utd co-owner \u2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is now officially part of the Manchester United setup. Plenty is already going on behind the scenes, but the headlines in recent days have been dominated by the United-supporting billionaire giving his first collection of interviews with various media outlets.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ratcliffe has spoken extensively a wide range of topics relating to his vision for the club now that he assumes responsibility for football operations and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Below are six key things to take away from all that has been discussed.<\/p>\n

\n

Benevolent owner<\/h2>\n
\n

Roses are red
Manchester is red
Plaques are red
For the first time since James Gibson, almost a century ago, Manchester United have benevolent ownership\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/glsCEFX74M<\/a>\u2014 Wayne Barton (@WayneSBarton)\u00a0February 14, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

United fans believe their club to have been exploited as a cash cow for the past 19 years of Glazer ownership. There is no denying that money has been spent \u2013 and wasted \u2013 in the transfer market, but as much money has been taken out of United through shareholder dividends and debt management as has been invested into highly successful Manchester City over a similar period.<\/p>\n

Amid increasingly poor optics, the Glazers took no dividend in 2022 for the first time in six years and again didn\u2019t in 2023. Ultimately, the family have got rich off Manchester United at the club\u2019s overall detriment. But Ratcliffe insists he isn\u2019t in the game to make money.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ruled by the heart. This is not a financial investment for me. If I wanted to make a financial investment, I would buy another chemical company. I\u2019m not interested in the financial aspects of this investment at all, really, because I make enough money in chemicals and oil and gas really.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That in its own way is slightly morally dubious given the state of the planet thanks to the fossil fuel economy, but at least every penny and more that United make will now go back into the club.<\/p>\n

When ratification for Ratcliffe\u2019s investment was nearing, prolific United author Wayne Barton drew comparisons with James Gibson, who rescued the club from the brink of financial oblivion in the 1930s and laid the foundations on which all the success of the last 80 years has been built.<\/p>\n

\n

Three-year plan: 2025-2028<\/h2>\n
\"Jim<\/figure>\n

Ratcliffe wants to bring back the glory days \/ Stu Forster\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

As one himself, Ratcliffe knows that United fans have had to wait long enough and experienced too many false dawns to still have the patience for a long-term restoration. He has warned that\u00a0a quick fix isn\u2019t possible\u00a0because of how much needs doing, but equally is aware that any more than two or three years for visible signs of significant improvement is the upper limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fans would run out of patience if it was a ten-year plan. But it\u2019s certainly a three-year plan to get there. To think that we\u2019re going to be playing football as good as Manchester City played against Real Madrid last year by next season is not sensible. And if we give people false expectations, then they will get disappointed. I think the key thing is our trajectory so that people can see that we\u2019re making progress. I think it\u2019s the club\u2019s 150th anniversary in 2028. If our trajectory is leading to a very good place in that sort of timeframe then we\u2019d be very happy with that. Because it\u2019s not easy to turn Manchester United into the world\u2019s best football team.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Firm but necessary<\/h2>\n
\"Sir<\/figure>\n

Sir Jim won\u2019t be harsh for the sake of it \/ Eric Alonso\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

What is plain to see is that a lot of change is needed, in people as well as processes. Plenty of those in position over the last decade have not been successful in making Manchester United the best football club in the world, or even the north west of England, as it always aims to be.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe doesn\u2019t simply want to have mass staffing culls for the sake of it, but those who are in jobs have to be there because they are good and no other reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not a sort of a brutal organisation really. But sometimes you do have to make decisions. And maybe not that popular.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to populate all the key roles with people who are best in class, ten out of ten. You [also]
need to create this environment which is driven and competitive. It is going to be intense at times, but equally it needs to have warmth and friendliness and be a supportive structure because the two things marry together well. They probably haven\u2019t had that environment for the last ten years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

New Old Trafford<\/h2>\n
\"Rebuilding<\/figure>\n

Rebuilding a new Old Trafford is preferable to renovating the current one \/ Michael Regan\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s a case of renovating the current Old Trafford or building a new one next door, Ratcliffe would ideally prefer the latter. Ultimately, the ambition is to create a regenerative \u2018campus\u2019 rather like Manchester City have developed at their base a few miles east. His early estimate is \u00a31bn for a refurb job, which perhaps isn\u2019t value for money, or \u00a32bn for a brand new stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can see so far is a really good case to refurbish Old Trafford, probably about \u00a31bn in cost. You finish up with a great stadium, it\u2019s probably 80,000-90,000. But it\u2019s not perfect because you\u2019re modifying a stadium that is slap-bang up against a railway line, so it\u2019s not an ideal world. But you finish up with a very good answer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIn an ideal world, I think it\u2019s a no-brainer, a [new] stadium of the north, which would be a world-class stadium where\u00a0England\u00a0could play and you could have the FA Cup final and it\u2019s not all centred around the south of England.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Dig at Qatar bid<\/h2>\n
\"FIFA<\/figure>\n

The Qatari bid to buy Man Utd was unsuccessful \/ Alex Grimm\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

An official filing from the US Securities and Exchange Commission repeatedly noted that throughout the bidding process, the Qatari bid fronted by Sheikh Jassim\u00a0never provided proof of funds. They, of course, denied that to be true, but Ratcliffe too backed up the assertion and joked that he isn\u2019t even sure if Sheikh Jassim is a real person because nobody ever met him.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill nobody\u2019s ever seen him, actually. The Glazers never met him\u2026I\u2019m not sure he exists! [laughs]. No, they didn\u2019t [provide proof of funds]. No. I don\u2019t know [if they were really bidding]. They were they were obviously there and there was a whole host of people on the team in their squad\u2026 I didn\u2019t ever meet them. But it was it was a very odd affair.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to comment on [whether Qatar played fair]. I know what the answer is. That\u2019s correct [they claimed their bid was a lot higher than it was].\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Defending Glazers with questionable logic<\/h2>\n
\"Avram<\/figure>\n

The Glazers retain overall majority control \/ OLI SCARFF\/GettyImages<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe obviously has to work alongside the Glazers moving forward. He may be the largest individual shareholder on the board, but the six siblings collectively outweigh him massively. What\u2019s more, the likelihood is that he will\u00a0continue to try and increase his stake over time, which means forging positive relationships with the family and not being directly critical of their stewardship.<\/p>\n

That being said, his specific praise for the Glazers was based on slightly bizarre logic, suggesting the easier route would have been to accept the Qatari bid and walk off into the sunset.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Glazers really, from the beginning, preferred ourselves to the Qatari option \u2014 which, in a way, for them was a much easier option because they could just sell the whole thing and they would have walked away and financially done quite well.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In reality, they can afford to sit back and let Ratcliffe and his team do all the work undoing the damage of the last 11 years, ultimately making the club more successful and therefore more valuable than it is right now. That will mean selling up in the future, potentially relinquishing a greater share to Ratcliffe, at a greater price than they could have achieved by selling outright to Sheikh Jassim. All the while, they retain all the perks of majority owning one of the world\u2019s biggest sporting brands.<\/p>\n

Call a spade, a spade.<\/p>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n