Sir Jim Ratcliffe to Purchase Stake in Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe will become the new minority owner of Manchester United. According to many sources the deal has been completely agreed, it is now a matter of dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Many United fans have been waiting anxiously for the deal to conclude before the January transfer window opens.
The hope is that there will be sweeping changes at Old Trafford that could propel United forward in the second half of the season.
However, the Glazer family announced their strategic review process more than a year ago. Not to mention it was reported back in October that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was the preferred bidder over the Qatari backed Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The pace at which the Glazers are conducting this process has made it clear that they are in no rush to expedite proceedings. All they care about is exploiting as much personal gain as they can. Sadly, they appear content leading on both fans and potential buyers. All the while they continue to search for ways to strategically manipulate the sale to their benefit.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe Brings More Questions than Answers
Since October, when Sir Jim Ratcliffe was announced as the preferred bidder, rumors have been surfacing as to what impact he will have on the club. Speculation ranges from new personnel throughout, to renovations to Old Trafford and Carrington. Some reports go as far to suggest that he has already identified several high profile players that he wants to move on from the club.
However, so far, this process has been less than forthcoming. Most fans and journalists have been left with more questions than answers.
Adding insult to injury for most United fans is the team’s current poor run of form. Most of us are desperate for change at United. And Ratcliffe is the first true sign of hope that supporters have had in a decade.
I think I speak for most United fans when I say, we need answers. We need to know Ratcliffe’s intentions with our club to know it is in safe hands. And we deserve to know what is to become of our club in the future.
What is the Hold Up?
The biggest question on everyone’s minds seems to be, what is the hold up?
Unfortunately, the truthful answer, while frustrating for fans, is typical of multi billion dollar acquisitions. That answer is, this is a very complicated deal. I hate this justification as much as the next person, as it covers all manner of sins. But, that doesn’t make it any less true.
Consider the following. Manchester United are being purchased in part by a British billionaire, based in Monaco, who runs a multinational fortune 100 company. Additionally, the Red Devils are a global brand, based in England, registered in the Caman Islands, traded on the New York Stock Exchange, owned by six American siblings with equal shares, who live scattered across the eastern seaboard of the United States. That in itself significantly convolutes this deal.
Further complicating the sale is the sheer nature of it. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is only purchasing 25% of the club. Given he will be a minority owner, it is important that his roll is well defined and put in writing. The same holds true for all of the new executive staff he is rumored to want to bring into the club.
Then there is the matter of outlining what will come of Old Trafford, Carrington, the players and the coaching staff. Generally speaking, when a new owner comes in they like to bring in all of their own people. All of this needs to be negotiated and agreed upon by Ratcliffe and the six Glazer siblings. Then it all needs to be put in writing.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe Could Buy Out the Glazers
There is also the matter of the long term plan for the club. There are a lot of journalists reporting that part of the deal would allow Ratcliffe to buy out the Glazers in the near future. Initial speculation suggests that in three to five years he would have the option to purchase the rest of the Glazer’s shares.
The simple fact is these kinds of acquisitions are unfathomably complicated. So much so that is hard to appreciate for most of us who just want to see progress.
What we do know about this deal is the following. Sir Jim Ratcliffe will purchase 25% of Manchester United’s class A shares at $33/share. He is also purchasing 25% of the Glazers class B shares which carry with them more voting rights and greater dividends. The total purchase price being $1.4 billion.
In addition, SkySports is reporting that his initial investment will also include $300 million to go towards Manchester United’s crumbling infrastructure. In total his initial investment is about $1.7 billion.
Will This Deal Clear Any of Manchester United’s Debt?
What will be music to most fans’ ears is that the deal will be financed directly by Ratcliffe. Unlike the Glazers who financed their deal through the club as future equity. The fact that no further debt will be placed on the club will be welcomed by most fans.
But the question still remains, of the $1.4 billion that Sir Jim is paying the Glazers for his stake, how much do they intend to pocket and how much do they intend to use to pay down the more than $1 billion in debt they have placed on the club?
For now, there has been little to no indications as to whether the Glazers will clear any of United’s debt. There has also been no indication to whether or not the Glazers will reinvest any of that back into the club.
Unfortunately, their track record would suggest they have every intention of keeping whatever they don’t lose in taxes.
How Hands-on Will Ratcliffe be?
Another question many fans are asking is, what will Ratcliffe’s roll be at Old Trafford?
Most pundits agree, Ratcliffe will be given full sporting control at Manchester United. He will be in charge of manager selection, transfers, sports sciences, medical, the stadium, Carrington, scouting, sports analytics…
Basically everything that has to do with the sporting side of operations. Where as the Glazers will maintain veto power, and control the marketing and financial side of operations. While this is far from the total take over that fans had hoped for, it is a huge step in the right direction. Especially if it becomes an inroad to a future total takeover.
Sadly, no one can deny that the Glazers, through Ed Woodward and Richard Arnold have done well to maintain Manchester United’s commercial success. And they did it despite a decade of mediocrity on the pitch, and little to no indication that they care about the teams on field success. It is usually the sporting decisions that have catastrophically failed.
Who Will Ratcliffe Bring In to Old Trafford?
Over the last month most reliable media outlets have reported on a number of new faces due to arrive at Old Trafford.
The news that will delight all United fans is that Richard Arnold has already left the club. Even better, once operational control is handed over to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, John Murtough will be leaving United as well.
Jean-Claude Blanc
First to come in for Arnold as new CEO is likely to be Jean-Claude Blanc. The French football executive is often referred to as ‘the Lionel Messi of sports business.’ Not only did he return Juventus to glory after a match fixing scandal that almost ended the club, he also is credited with the development of their current stadium.
After leaving Juventus he joined PSG where he was responsible for developing the French champions from small time to Champions League elite.
Blanc is often discussed as one of the best executives in football. Fortunately for Manchester United, after leaving PSG he joined INEOS, helping to manage their sports portfolio alongside Sir David Brailsford. Meaning he is available to United.
Paul Mitchell
There are two men being considered for the soon to be vacated Director of Football position. Dougie Freedman and Paul Mitchell.
Paul Mitchell is an English former professional footballer turned scout. He had spells as head scout for Tottenham, RB Leipzig, New York Red Bulls, MK Dons and Southampton. At the latter he is credited with discovering Dajan Lovren, Vicotor Wanyama, and Sadio Mane. Finally, in 2020 his success led him to Monaco as Sporting Director and board member.
He left that post earlier this year in an attempt to pursue the vacant Sporting Director position at Liverpool. However, Liverpool went a different direction leaving Ratcliffe free to recruit the rising star.
Dougie Freedman
Dougie Freedman is a Scottish former manager turned Sporting Director. After a spell at Nottingham Forest, Dougie settled in as Sporting director at Crystal Palace. The same Crystal Palace that wiped the floor with United at Old Trafford earlier this season.
He is credited with recruiting players like, Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi, Joachim Andersen, and Cheick Doucoure. All players that are performing extremely well right now.
Sufficive to say, both Freedman and Mitchell have the right CV and experience to be a United Sporting Director. Though the scale of experience does tip more in favor of Mitchell.
Sir David Brailsford
The last name widely linked with an extensive roll in rebuilding Manchester United is Sir David Brailsford. Sir David is the former head of British cycling. He led the British Olympic cycling team to multiple gold medals before moving to INEOS where he ran the Sky/INEOS Cycling team to multiple grand tour wins. Including six Tour de France wins.
His philosophy for success is ‘marginal gains.’ In other words using extensive amounts of data and analytics to produce a collective of small improvements that accumulate into a much larger overall gain.
His approach was so successful that in addition to being knighted, Brailsford was given the reigns as Sporting Director at INEOS. There, he oversees all sporting operations INEOS is involved in. Including the Team INEOS cycling team, French football side Nice, Swiss football side FC Lausanne-Sport, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team, and Americas Cup champions INEOS Britannia.
His experience running a variety of sports enterprises will be invaluable to United. While his philosophies will almost certainly put the club on par with other elite teams. With regards to his roll at Old Trafford, it is likely that he will be heavily involved in the transition and restructuring processes. Though most reports label him in purely an advisory roll, with no formal title being discussed as of yet.
Ratcliffe Dedicates to Invest in United Infrastructure
Another aspect of this deal that will thrill fans is Ratcliffe’s pledge to invest into the club’s infrastructure. While nothing has been reported with certainty, most pundits suggest he will invest up to $300 million initially.
This influx is meant to improve United’s training facilities, sports analytics, sports medicine, scouting and medical departments. While less reliable reports suggest that this summer Ratcliffe will be looking into renovating Carrington and either renovating, rebuilding or even relocating Old Trafford.
This influx of cash into Manchester United has left many fans with yet another question. Will there be funds made available for transfers and if so how much?
Truthfully, I find it hard to believe there wont be a sizable investment into new players this summer. However, how much is hard to tell until we get a better feel of how Ratcliffe intends to run the club. The January window however, is harder to predict.
In most of his pressers, Erik ten Hag remains coy about the winter window. Like most managers he talks about how hard it is to sign top talent in the middle of the season. He also hints at little to no funds available. But, he could simply be deflecting, there is simply no way to know for sure.
We do know that United will look off load the likes of Donny Van de Beek, Anthony Martial and Jadon Sancho this window. Perhaps that will provide some funds to bring in much needed reinforcements.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe Targets Player Clear-out
In addition to all the changes that are due to happen behind the scenes, there are also question marks around which players will stay, and if Erik ten Hag will remain manager.
I honestly find it hard to believe that ten Hag will get the sack this season. Baring a catastrophic meltdown from him or the team, I think our manager will get until the end of the season to prove his worth. However, there are rumors circulating that Zidane, Graham Potter or Julen Lopetegui are being considered should ten Hag fail to impress Ratcliffe.
Players on the other-hand seem to be on the chopping block. Other than Sancho, Van de Beek and Martial no names have been explicitly mentioned. However, in his book released earlier this year, Ratcliffe made a dig at United’s endemic weak mentality. He even pointed the finger specifically at Bruno Fernandes for his behavior last season at the 7-0 defeat to Liverpool.
His intent appears to be to rid the squad of this weakness. The players most commonly called out this season for their mentality have mainly been Martial, Sancho, Bruno, Marcus Rashford, Casemiro, and Rafael Varane. When you include the players like Scott McTominay, Victor Lindelof, Soyfan Amrabat, Diogo Dalot, and Antony, who are simply not good enough, it looks like there will be a fire sale at United this January and again in the summer.
What remains to be seen is if Ratcliffe’s team can be more efficient at offloading players than their predecessors. And if they can make smarter decisions when recruiting new players.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe Brings the Winds of Change
One thing is clear. There is a lot change on the horizon for Manchester United. What is not so clear is how long that change will take to implement. And if this revolution will be successful.
Given the busy new year schedule and the upcoming January transfer window, there is a desire from fans and Ratcliffe to finalize the purchase before Christmas. However, the latest reports suggest that the complicated nature of this deal may force it to run into the new year.
There are also suggestions that the Glazers might be holding out for another bid from Sheikh Jassim. Apparently Jassim has registered interest in AC Milan. However, some pundits believe that the Sheikh only wants to purchase United. They go on to intimate that his interest in Milan is strictly a strategy to bring the Glazers back to the table. In my opinion, it is pure clickbait designed to prey on United fan’s desperation.
The frustration from supporters is palpable. But this is one of those situations where we must accept that which is not within our control. We must hold faith that greener pastures are in the club’s future. However, if this transaction is not concluded in time for the opening of the January window, I fully expect fans to march on Old Trafford, torches in hand.
Glory, glory Man United!
5 Trackbacks / Pingbacks