Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a billionaire businessman and yet he has a team of people working for him who couldn’t come up with a charity fundraiser idea.
That was what was most startling about his series of interviews earlier this week. Gary Neville put forward to him the most basic of ideas to plug the hole of £40,000 a year which was taken from a fund for former players at Manchester United.
The ex-United captain said current stars such as Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire could attend a dinner, take some pictures and raise thousands for former players.
Neville said: "That's not the players that played under Sir Alex Ferguson or the last 10 years, they're players from the 1960s and '70s.
"I just look at that and think it's £40,000 from players who are giving a lot back to the local community, big supporters of United. Why not look at that £40,000 and put Harry Maguire and Bruno in a dinner?
Gary Neville interviews Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Gary Neville said he was "alarmed" by Sir Jim Ratcliffe's response (Image: The Overlap/Youtube)
"Sell 1,000 tickets for 30, 40, 50 quid, raise the money through a dinner, maybe do a raffle, an auction, give the ex-players their money and do it in a way where it's not looked at as a cruel decision, which it is.
"Why would that not be looked at as a shopping list of things, that's got health warnings to it? They're former players, people who do a lot of good. Why would that decision be made?"
Ratcliffe seemed stunned and admitted he’d have backed such an idea, but "nobody suggested that".
"Maybe we can, I don't know," stumbled Ratcliffe. "I can have a look at it. I'm not aware of that level of detail to be honest."
Just as it did Neville, that response should alarm United fans about the people running the club.
Yet you would think that if, for accounting reasons, United had to lose that £40,000 off their books, a man of Ratcliffe’s wealth could personally contribute.
That would have been an easy PR win. But nothing seems easy at Old Trafford these days.
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