Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues to separate himself from the Glazers in at least one positive way after he communicated with the Man Utd fans.
A recent series of interviews by the Man Utd part-owner threw a light on the state of affairs at Old Trafford, their controversial decisions, and their aims for the club.
He touched on everything from United’s plans for a new stadium to the mess they inherited, even apologising for mistakes made under them.
Amidst all the disclosures, one truly caught the eye, putting into focus how long the road ahead is for the new ownership group.
Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes ‘first time’ admission at Man Utd
Ineos arrived as official part-owners of Man Utd all the way back at the start of last year and since then, it has been one upheaval after another.
From the overhauling of the executive structure to changes on the pitch and controversial decisions off it, there hasn’t been a quiet day at the club.
They would have known the scale of the job they were about to take and even then, it can sometimes take people by surprise when they actually walk through the doors.
It isn’t helped by the fact that they made two big errors- Hiring and firing Dan Ashworth, and keeping then sacking Erik ten Hag.
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Amidst all the upheaval, Sir Jim Ratcliffe said on The Overlap YouTube channel that last week, it was the first time he’s actually had a full board meeting and went into details of it.
He said: “It’s not just me. It’s me, Omar [Berrada], Jason [Wilcox], other guys you don’t really see. We had a board meeting last week and it was a really good, cohesive meeting. Really good group of people, really focused on getting Man Utd to the right place.
“It’s the first time we’ve had a board meeting since I arrived on the first of January where we’ve had the full team in town.”
Remarkable admission shows scale of upheaval at Man Utd
It is remarkable to know that it has taken the executive team more than a year to actually sit together at the table and map out the plans for the club.
It can be argued that until about December 2024, the executive team hadn’t even taken shape because that’s when Dan Ashworth left the club in remarkable circumstances.
Since then, a new hire on the commercial side has been made in Mark Armstrong, while other people working behind the scenes, like Collete Roche and Roger Bell, have had their hands full.
It doesn’t help that Ratcliffe himself is situated in Monaco most of the time for tax reasons, so it is perhaps not that surprising they met for the first time ‘last week’.
At least now that the personnel are set and the vision is clear, United can start putting in place the building blocks the club sorely needs.