Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s acquisition of a 25% stake for £1.3billion in Manchester United has been confirmed.
It’s the kind of news that will send United fans deeper into the drink cabinet this Christmas, feeling merry at the thought of the Glazers having less power at the football club.
But over time we will learn what this actually means for the future of our beloved football club.
MU PLC agreement for Sir Jim Ratcliffe of INEOS to acquire up to a 25% Shareholding.
· Acquisition of 25% of Class B shares held by Glazers.
· Offer to acquire up to 25% of all Class A shares
· Further investment of $300 million in Club
· INEOS responsible for football side— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) December 24, 2023
The deal itself was agreed in principle some time ago, but hasn’t been officially announced until today. Christmas Eve of all days when every Manchester United reporter thought it would have been a quiet day or two.
INEOS will take responsibility for management of football operation across men’s, women’s and Academy teams.
Now, the Premier League will take up to 6-8 weeks for the Premier League to ratify the Ineos deal, which means it’s not over yet. Despite only being a minority stake, Ratcliffe is set to go through the Premier League’s Owners’ and Directors’ Test over the coming weeks.
It is not expected to be an obstacle but Ineos will be unable to get their foot in the door until everything is approved.
Executive Co-Chairmen and Directors, Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer said (via ManUtd.com): “We are delighted to have agreed this deal with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS. As part of the strategic review we announced in November 2022, we committed to look at a variety of alternatives to help enhance Manchester United, with a focus on delivering success for our men’s, women’s and Academy teams.
“Sir Jim and INEOS bring a wealth of commercial experience as well as significant financial commitment into the Club. And, through INEOS Sport, Manchester United will have access to seasoned high-performance professionals, experienced in creating and leading elite teams from both inside and outside the game. Manchester United has talented people right across the Club and our desire is to always improve at every level to help bring our great fans more success in the future.”
INEOS Chairman, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, said: “As a local boy and a lifelong supporter of the Club, I am very pleased that we have been able to agree a deal with the Manchester United Board that delegates us management responsibility of the football operations of the Club. Whilst the commercial success of the Club has ensured there have always been available funds to win trophies at the highest level, this potential has not been fully unlocked in recent times. We will bring the global knowledge, expertise and talent from the wider INEOS Sport group to help drive further improvement at the Club, while also providing funds intended to enable future investment into Old Trafford.
“We are here for the long term and recognise that a lot of challenges and hard work lie ahead, which we will approach with rigour, professionalism and passion. We are committed to working with everyone at the Club – the Board, staff, players and fans – to help drive the Club forward.
“Our shared ambition is clear: we all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football.”
In a way, though, Christmas comes a bit early for United fans – with the deal, which has been delayed for some time, now officially signed off – just 13 months after the launch of a review initiated by the Glazers.
Gary Neville took to X ahead of the announcement to write (excuse the misspelling of Ratcliffe’s name): “Manchester United 2023 has been a disgrace of the end. The timing of this is truly awful and no functioning organisation would even think about it. Anyway all the very best to Jim Radcliffe and I hope he can somehow work a way to get the club right again and back to being something respectable on and off the pitch.”
Manchester United 2023 has been a disgrace to the end. The timing of this is truly awful and no functioning organisation would even think about it. Anyway all the very best to Jim Radcliffe and I hope he can somehow work out a way to get the club right again and back to being…
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 24, 2023
Something like it was before the Glazers came in, back in 2004, but that seems a big stretch when they still have majority control over Manchester United.
We would like to echo Neville’s sentiments in that we obviously wish Ratcliffe the very best as new minority stakeholder at United.
Only time will tell if he will listen to fan groups or even have an interest in match going fans.
We already know the Glazers couldn’t care less – about anything unless it’s money.
One question some might ask is whether Ineos can own stakes in two clubs, or even three in their case. The answer in short is yes, and Nice are not playing in Europe this season anyway. That means Ineos can delay difficult questions about conflict of interest and multi-club ownership for now…
Maybe over time Ratcliffe and Ineos will consider selling Nice.
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