Man Utd co-owner Ratcliffe fires ‘direct attack’ at Glazer family with finance expert ‘amazed’

Lewis Oldham
Ratcliffe Man Utd
New Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

New Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been accused of directing a verbal “attack” at the Glazer family, with their past work “called out”.

Earlier this year, Ratcliffe completed his purchase of a 27.7% stake in Man Utd. He has only bought a minority share but has taken control of footballing matters at Old Trafford.

The INEOS chief – who also owns Ligue Un outfit OGC Nice – has been busy in recent months as he has looked to make several major changes behind the scenes at Man Utd.

Ratcliffe has overhauled United’s recruitment team as chief executive Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox have been recruited. He is also looking to make two additions to Erik ten Hag’s coaching set-up. 

He recently hit out at the previous regime at Old Trafford, as Man Utd do not have “any players valued at £84m or more”.

“There’s room for improvement everywhere we look at Manchester United, and we will improve everything,” Ratcliffe said.

“We want to be where Real Madrid is today, but it’ll take time. It will take two or three summer windows to get to a better place.

“Manchester United doesn’t have any players that are valued at €100 million (£84m/$107m) or more. I’m not confident that we’ll solve all the problems in the first transfer window.”

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In response to these comments, former Everton and Aston Villa CEO Keith Wyness has explained why he is “amazed” by this “direct attack” on the Glazer family.

“It sounds like he is calling out the Glazers,” Wyness told Football Insider.

“I was amazed by that, to be honest. I thought there would have been something in the contract preventing him from disparaging them in any way.

“It seemed a pretty direct attack on how they have run this football club in the last 10 years or so.

“He’s having a lot to say, and I think he’s falling into the trap of a new owner – he’s come in saying lots of things, but isn’t coming up with the right solutions.

“He’s spent a lot of money on this stake. Ratcliffe is trying to change the culture, but there are so many things going on – I think he may have bitten off a bit more than he can chew at the moment.”

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