Sir Jim Ratcliffe has outlined his blueprint to get Manchester United back to the top
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has outlined his blueprint to get Manchester United back to the top
Talking about players whose transfer fees are still being paid off at great expense, Sir Jim Ratcliffe says “some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid.”
As far as ‘no s***, Sherlock’ comments go, that is right up there. But fair play for stating the blindingly obvious and fair play for admitting the delay in dismissing Erik ten Hag and the ill-fated and costly recruitment of Dan Ashworth “were errors.”
Also, his seemingly unequivocal support of the coach - despite results that are no better than they were under Ten Hag - is admirable and is reassuring for Ruben Amorim. But is there anything in Ratcliffe’s latest, relatively wide-ranging pronouncements that convinces Manchester United supporters he knows how to run a football club? That he knows what a football club means to its community? That he knows anything about the game?
It is hard to see that there is anything that convinces you of those things. One of Ratcliffe’s pay-off lines to the BBC’s Dan Roan tells you all you need to know.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe reveals how soon he believes Man Utd can win Premier League again](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jim-ratcliffe-man-utd-premier-34834446)
Having repeated the predictable spiel that his “only interest … is returning Manchester United back to greatness”, Ratcliffe boldly suggests where the club will be in a fairly short space of time. “The club is going to finish up in a very very different place in three years’ time to where it has been in the past, in my view,” says Ratcliffe.
“I think it will become the most profitable club in the world. I think we may well finish up with the most iconic football stadium in the world and I think we will finish up winning silverware again.” Presumably, or subconsciously, they are listed in order of importance.
Is becoming the most profitable club in the world top of a fan’s list of priorities? Is even having the most iconic football stadium in the world? No and no. Ratcliffe says that he has to implement a redundancy programme that could eventually see as many as 450 rank-and-file employees lose their jobs AND he has to increase ticket prices because, otherwise, the club would have run out of money by Christmas.
Does anyone really believe that? Or do most people see a businessman ruthlessly pruning his acquisition in preparation for making it more profitable because, well, that is what businessmen do? “The club had got bloated so we reduced that and will finish it with a lean and efficient organisation,” he says.
Jadon Sancho of Chelsea during the match against Crystal Palace
Jadon Sancho is one of the signings Ratcliffe highlighted as a drain on the club's finances
Supporters won’t be asking for an open-top bus parade when Ratcliffe whittles the club down to a “lean and efficient organisation.” Ratcliffe has only been involved at United for just over a year and no supporter would deny that the characters who are wholly responsible for the club’s struggles are the Glazers.
And you can only commend his honesty if he is saying the likes of Antony, Casemiro, Rasmus Hojlund and Jadon Sancho were not good enough and/or paid too much. A lot of United fans will also hope he keeps his promise to stick with and support Amorim and to his declaration that exciting young talent will not be sold.
But after 12 months of co-ownership and his latest assessment of what needs sorting at Old Trafford, are supporters convinced Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the man who can take “Manchester United back to greatness”? I very much doubt it.
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