Owner of British multinational chemicals company Ineos, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, looks set to acquire a 25% minority stake in Manchester United Football Club.
The Englishmen, who is said to be a lifelong fan of the club set will have to pay an eye-watering 1.3 billion pounds for the stake in a move that will potentially see significant investment in the sporting side of the football club.
This move comes after a lengthy bidding process which saw Qatari Businessman Sheik Jassim Bin Al Thani and Ratcliffe battle it out to the buy the club from Manchester United’s unpopular owners, The Glazer family. The Family have owned the club since 2005 after their late father Malcolm acquired the bulk of the club’s shares through the investment firm Red Football LTD (Evening Standard, 2023).
The Glazers have been deeply unpopular with Manchester United’s supporters ever since where their tenure has saw the club amount unprecedented debt and the club fall behind their rivals in terms of success and footballing infrastructure. Protests have been ubiquitous throughout their time at United with fans urging the owners to sell the club.
Their wishes looked set to be granted in November 2022 where the Glazers confirmed they were open to sell the club as well as saying that “new investment” would be considered (Sky Sports, 2023). The process ever since then has felt like a lifetime for Manchester United fans with frustrations from supporters and bidders alike growing as the American owners reviewed the bids they had received.
The two interested parties would go through three rounds of bidding with the Sheik Jassim going in with a fourth and then fifth bid which saw him offer over 5 billion pounds for the 100% of the club.
Despite this world record fee, it could not tempt the Glazers to sell the club and the Qatari Businessman withdrew himself from the bidding process on the 14th of October, which left Jim Ratcliffe as the only bidder still in the race (Sky Sports, 2023).
Sir Jim’s proposal, with the deal needing to be agreed at the United Board meeting this week, will see him as a minority owner in the club with reports suggesting that he will look to take sporting control of the club by investing in the club’s facilities and their famous stadium Old Trafford as well as reportedly appointing a new sporting director. The deal is also reportedly part of a phased takeover as Ratcliffe looks to take majority of the club in the coming years.