The multi-club model is in vogue at present, but Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is actively looking to pare back his own football empire.
As well as a 29 per cent stake in United, the Ineos billionaire owns Ligue 1’s OGC Nice and Swiss top-tier side Lausanne-Sport outright.
Elsewhere in the world of sport, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is invested in professional cycling, Formula 1 and sailing. Before buying into United, Ineos also had sponsorship deals with Tottenham and New Zealand Rugby among others.
Unlike many of the elite ownership class in Premier League football, Ratcliffe’s interest and passion for sport is manifestly real. In that sense, then, he is the opposite of the Glazer family, most of whom are, at best, indifferent to football.
Manchester United’s multi-club network
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Talking Points creatives showing the locations of Ineos-owned Manchester United, Lausanne Sport and OGC Nice
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The 73-year-old has thrown himself headfirst into running the club’s sporting and commercial arms.
So far at Old Trafford, however, Ratcliffe’s zeal is yet to translate into results.
In their wider business meanwhile, Ineos are struggling, which might explain why Ratcliffe is looking to sell Nice.
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While it was a niche area of interest for grey-faced business types just a few years ago, the issue of multi-club ownership in football has gone mainstream.
The Red Bull network and Manchester City’s City Football Group have shown that multi-club systems can be riotously successful, helping to pool costs and resources, bolster recruitment strategies and circumvent pesky transfer regulations.
When Ratcliffe bought into United in 2024, the club officially became part of a multi-club network.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe looks on during the Premier League match between Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC at Old Trafford on November 3, 2024 in Manchester, United Kingdom.
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
And while the Red Devils’ links with OGC Nice and Lausanne-Sport are more diffuse than many multi-clubs, they were sufficient for UEFA to insist that Ineos implement a blind trust to manage Nice when both clubs qualified for the Europa League last season.
Perhaps that episode, as well as Nice’s pitiful form in Ligue 1 this season, has persuaded Ratcliffe that French football is not the best place to pile his chips. Bloomberg reported this week that he has slashed his £175m asking price for the club.
Ratcliffe, then, is clearly determined to exit Ligue 1. And while the league’s well-reported financial issues because of the collapse of their TV deal with DAZN are certainly one of if not the ultimate main factor here, he is still going against the grain.
Chelsea’s use of Strasbourg, their multi-club outpost in Ligue 1, is ramping up, not down. Liam Rosenior has effectively been in a holding pattern in Alsace since 2024, while droves of players have been traded between the two clubs.
In total, 17 Premier League clubs exist in some kind of multi-club structure, with eight of those (United, Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Everton, Leeds United, Sunderland) at least partially based in France.
If Ratcliffe makes £150m selling OGC Nice, how should that cash be spent at United?
Ineos billionaire wants out of French football
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Red Bull are going all in on France too and, alongside the world’s seventh-richest person in Bernard Arnault, want to challenge Paris Saint-Germain’s supremacy with next door Paris FC.
So while the TV deal collapse is clearly an inescapable issue, there is still confidence in French football – although clearly not from Ratcliffe.
If Ratcliffe is successful in selling Nice at a discounted price, United will still retain a multi-club link to Lausanne-Sport.
However, that is far less useful in terms of player recruitment given that the Swiss league is 16th in UEFA’s club association coefficient ranking whereas France is 5th, meaning players trained at French clubs can accrue the necessary governing body endorsement points to make the switch to the Premier League much more easily.
Ratcliffe lieutenant Jean-Claude Blanc could influence UEFA’s multi-club policy
It has been nine months since Jean-Claude Blanc was removed from his position as a director at Man United, but he remains in Ratcliffe’s inner circle.
Blanc is still CEO of INEOS Sport, president of OGC Nice and both chief of international football relations and special adviser at United.
In his role at United, Blanc also sits on the board of European Football Clubs, probably the most powerful lobbying organisation in the sport.
Man United and Ineos executive Jean Claude-Blanc
Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
European Football Clubs will indirectly shape UEFA’s policy on multi-club networks in years to come, so having Blanc in the fold is important for United.
Where exactly UEFA are heading with the multi-club model isn’t clear.
Fan sentiment towards the model is not at all favourable, but many football finance experts believe the genie is already out of the bottle with regard to the most powerful owners in the game already having set up multi-club organisations.
That and the bullishness of ownership groups such as Chelsea’s BlueCo may suggest that European football could remove more guardrails in multi-club regulation in the not-too-distant future.
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