Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford met with staff this week to stress how important the Manchester United academy will be for the future of the club.
The pair, who will front the INEOS group that will be the driving force behind football operations at Old Trafford, took time out to visit Carrington training complex on Monday.
INEOS will continue their audit of the club while they wait for their deal to buy 25% of the club to be ratified by the Premier League. This isn’t the first time Ratcliffe and Brailsford have done this in recent weeks, either. They also met with fan groups, including MUST, to discuss a range of topics.
You will hear more about MUST’s meeting with Ratcliffe and co on the Strettycast – the official podcast from Stretty News.
However, United’s academy head Nick Cox believes there are “exciting times ahead” for the academy, which in recent times has produced first team players like Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.
As a football club Manchester United has been built by foundations that meant youth players would be trusted. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough – a philosophy that both Sir Matt Busby and Jimmy Murphy
Cox told the Manchester Evening News: “Yeah, they were very clear. We have spent time with Dave and Jim. They both presented to the academy staff this week and we have had a lot of informal conversations as well.
“It is very early days, they are still learning about the club, albeit Jim is a huge supporter. Jim is very familiar with the club, being a lifelong fan. But you don’t have to spend long here to realise that.
“But they are building relationships, trying to understand where the help and support might be needed to help us to get better.
“Naturally, they have a really good understanding of the history of youth development here and the role it has played in our history and the role it is playing today in terms of helping our team perform. So from our perception, from the academy staff’s perception, exciting times ahead.
“I think the staff were incredibly enthused and appreciated the fact that they dedicated some time which is a really busy time for them because there are a lot of new people to meet and new information for them but they came and spent considerable time with every person in the room.
“And that same approach has been taken across different functions in the club and will do I imagine in the coming weeks.”
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