A ‘very visible’ Josh Thompson is the Man Utd figure ‘you’ve never heard of’ and the INEOS man is seemingly unsettling things at the Red Devils training ground.
The Red Devils have had a terrible start to the new Premier League season after INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe took charge of their first transfer window at the club.
Man Utd spent around £180m on five players over the summer transfer window with Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui joining.
It has been a far from successful summer and start to the new season for the new Man Utd co-owners with Erik ten Hag already replaced by Ruben Amorim and the Red Devils currently 13th in the Premier League table.
Man Utd also announced on Sunday that Dan Ashworth has left the club in another blow after Ratcliffe chased him for months earlier this year, paying Newcastle compensation to land the former sporting director.
And now Samuel Luckhurst in the Manchester Evening News has done an introductory piece into the INEOS man ‘you’ve never heard of’ at the Man Utd training ground.
Thompson ‘has been very visible’ at Man Utd since INEOS completed a deal to buy 27.7 per cent of the club from the Glazers earlier this year.
He features alongside the familiar faces of Ashworth, Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox in Amorim’s arrival video with Thompson believed to be INEOS’ ‘eyes and ears at the club’s Carrington training complex’.
One person at Man Utd ‘dismissively referred to him as [Sir Dave] Brailsford’s “bag man”‘ and there have been ‘murmurs of discontent about Thompson’s presence at Carrington’.
Luckhurst added:
‘When asked for comment on Thompson’s role, an Ineos spokesperson bristled at the query and declined. The spokesperson also declined to confirm if Thompson’s father is the chief executive officer of one of Ineos’s sister groups.
‘Thompson effectively acts as Brailsford’s personal assistant and ensures everything is functioning operationally in relation to Brailsford’s diary. For example, Thompson will book vehicles to chaperone officials to and from Carrington or Old Trafford. Since Ineos ran football operations, United have used the HR Carriages Mayfair firm.
‘A club source has described Thompson as a connector between the ownership and the club and a fixer. Coincidentally, Ed Woodward dubbed John Murtough a “fixer” upon appointing him as football director in March 2021.
‘One source said Thompson is personable and has made an effort to fit into a tricky role not dissimilar to the team that represented the Glazer family at the Carrington coalface.
‘They also accept that some staff are bound to be naturally suspicious of someone who is the embodiment of Ineos at Carrington. A separate source said Thompson is “going around acting the big shot”.’
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Luckhurst continued:
‘Given the close attachment to Ratcliffe, there have been predictable accusations that Thompson is a nepo baby. One embittered staff member complained that Thompson “brings his mates to Carrington and just stands there watching training”, possibly a reference to [Eliud] Kipchoge’s tour.
‘A colleague was unimpressed by Thompson’s behaviour towards a lift attendant at Wembley before the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City. A source at Carrington, however, assured he is a “nice guy”.
‘A senior figure at United is still unimpressed and has privately questioned Thompson’s role yet is reluctant to raise it. An Ineos source clarified Thompson is a more junior member of the team and not part of the senior leadership team.
‘”There are so many cooks and egos at United,” a source who has dealt with them said. “The structure felt like it was destined to have someone leave but wouldn’t have expected it to be Ashworth or so soon.”‘