Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are approaching their one-year anniversary as 27.7 per cent owner of Manchester United and responsible for the sporting part of the store. A survey of United supporters shows that Britain’s wealthiest’s first year has not been convincing, on the contrary. Now Ratcliffe is warning of more trouble, but everything is being done for the club to give the Manchester United manager the resources he needs.
At least that’s what is said out loud. But the string of bad decisions is getting long and there is little that reminds me of the glory days before the Glazer family. – It’s not just Sir Jim Ratcliffe who is fed up, also the fans have started to get annoyed, like an itch that won’t go away completely.
United tried to increase the prices of season tickets, but had to withdraw the attempt when the management faced massive criticism from the supporters. Two hundred and fifty employees of the club were sent out this summer, as was Sir Alex Ferguson as ambassador. Erik ten Hag was touted five months ago as the long-term solution, the blunder of Ratcliffe and the management with compensation to Ten Hag and the buyout of Ruben Amorim has cost the club hundreds of millions of kroner.
Now Ratcliffe talks about the plan going forward, what he believes is a necessity for a club that is lagging behind in the last century.
“We have to make some difficult and unpopular decisions. If you shy away from the difficult decisions, nothing is going to change. We still have a long way to go, and we still have a number of difficult decisions to make, but we have to do it for the better. Manchester United have become mediocre. It’s not elite, and this is meant to be one of the best football clubs in the world,” Ratcliffe begins in an interview with the United We Stand supporters’ page.
“We haven’t been good enough at recruitment, and until we’re as good as everyone else in the world, it’s not good enough for Manchester United. We must have the best recruitment in the world. Data analysis comes alongside recruitment. It doesn’t exist here. We’re still in the last century on data analytics. Here, these things don’t happen overnight. You can’t just press a light switch and solve the recruitment. It’s all about people, and we have to find the right people,” Ratcliffe says.
Before he explains why the club mercilessly cuts positions, costs and turns up prices where possible.
-We have to sweat every pound so that we have more capacity for the investment in players. It is the major measures that take time. The second point here is how to increase the amount of money you can spend on players,” Ratcliffe explains.
Then we will see if the United supporters are convinced. After a decade of miserable management of the club, patience is very thin.
