Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become the public face of Manchester United at an unfortunate time.
When Ineos were announced to have taken a minority share at Old Trafford, Sir Jim Ratcliffe was heralded as the saviour as he talked the talk.
One year on and he has now been pinned to the same board as the infamous Glazer family for the vastly unpopular decisions he has made at Manchester United.
Ineos has cut over 250 jobs at United over the past year, along with removing free lunches from the workplace which rubbed fans the wrong way.
Along with this, Ratcliffe has overseen ticket price rises at United, which he has since confirmed will rise again from £66 next season.
However, as United announced that Old Trafford will be replaced, it has become clear that Ratcliffe is nothing like the Glazers.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Gary Neville commends Sir Jim Ratcliffe for bringing transparency to Manchester United
Ratcliffe has left United fans divided after his interview with The Overlap.
On one hand, Ratcliffe is the face of the tough decisions being made and then on the other, he is trying to save the club from financial ruin.
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One thing which is clear however is that Ratcliffe speaking openly to fans and addressing grievances is something that would never have happened under the Glazer family, as Gary Neville told the club’s minority owner.
“Jim, one thing I would say is that for 25 years the Glazer family haven’t spoken and you are going through a challenging time at the moment but you have been communicating which I think is a start.
“I think the club’s owners need to communicate in good times and in bad, but we’ve never had that at United, so I commend you for that.”
For years, the Glazers’ silence on United’s issues spoke volumes, telling the story that they simply couldn’t care less and Ratcliffe speaking after protests added fuel to this fire.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is not like the Glazers and needs time
Despite not outing the Glazers – something he cannot do right now – Ratcliffe implied on numerous occasions that how the club used to be run is the reason behind the financial ruin while being limited in what he could say.
He told Neville that the Glazers gave the former management like Ed Woodward a lot of rope at the club – which the legendary United right-back heard as Ratcliffe admitting their negligence.
Ratcliffe however, is doing the opposite, taking a key role in almost every big decision at the club as he told Neville his end goal is to have the club back to the best in the world.
Hard decisions have been made, but Ratcliffe has explained that once finances are back in line, the club could be in a position to make more generous decisions.
The transparency is so refreshing from Ratcliffe, and fan anger should absolutely be directed at the Glazers, not the man trying to clean up the mess of the past 10 years or longer.