Manchester United and its doldrums: For a club to succeed, except for the evident quality in the dressing room, the other most important factor is the culture – how the people involved in day-to-day endeavours interact with each other. It’s essential for an organisation to have a great culture led by a set of values that are set by the people at the top.
Manchester United are sadly well-known for not having that anymore. The values they used to have under Sir Alex Ferguson are long gone and the current environment of the club is holding them back from lifting silverware on the pitch. The former players and former manager have been vocal about it for a long time but the lethargy of the owners – the Glazers family – to do something about it and change it for the better has made them unpopular amongst the fans.
Many of the fans want them out but as things stand, very few people are willing to buy this walking mess from the American owners. Well, as mentioned, very few are still interested to buy the club and one of them is Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s richest man. His company Ineos already owns the Ligue 1 football team OGC Nice and his love for sports is visible from the variety of acquisitions his company has made in the field of sports.
A possible takeover of Manchester United by Sir Jim Ratcliffe in future?
He is famous for demanding value for his money so his current focus is on Nice and developing them as a brand and as a football club. In 2019, Ratcliffe revealed that Manchester United had ‘lost the plot’ after voicing his displeasure about the manager selection and player acquisition of the club. According to him, since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement the club had been dumb with their money and had not spent them intelligently.
According to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, his company s has always taken a sensible approach while spending money and have learnt a lot by watching the actions of the underdogs to succeed with a limited budget and better planning than bigger clubs. So, at the moment, considering the valuation and club environment of Manchester United, he is not interested in buying them. BUT, he is not ruling anything out as he has mentioned his willingness to buy a Premier League club in future on numerous occasions. A takeover on the horizon? Well, maybe…or maybe not!
