Manchester United’s co-owners faced protests from fans at last week’s game against Arsenal.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has suggested he would sell his stake in Manchester United if fan abuse towards him increased (Lucy North/PA)open image in gallery
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has suggested he would sell his stake in Manchester United if fan abuse towards him increased (Lucy North/PA) (PA Wire)
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has suggested he would walk away from Manchester United if he ever suffered abuse on the level of that directed at the Glazer family.
Britain’s richest man owns a 28.94 per cent stake in United after buying in last year, with his Ineos company taking control of football operations under their deal with the Glazers.
But Ratcliffe has recently been behind a series of unpopular decisions, from raising ticket prices to laying off hundreds of staff. During a fan protest last week, chants were not only directed against the Glazers but Ratcliffe as well.
“It can be unpleasant,” Ratcliffe said in the Times. “And I’ve probably failed on the having fun front.
“I can put up with it for a while. I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make.
“Eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, ‘look, that’s enough guys, let somebody else do this’. They can’t really come to a match, the Glazers. They’ve retreated into the shadows a bit now, so I’m getting all the bloody stick.
“We bought in and I haven’t seen them since. It’s ‘Thank you, Jim, you’re doing a really good job’. At the moment, I don’t have to walk around like that. But it would defeat the object, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t tolerate it at that level, it just wouldn’t be fun.”
Ratcliffe was seen sitting behind Ed Glazer during last week’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal, and has previously attended games alongside Joel Glazer.
In the interview he described the family, deeply unpopular with a large part of the United fanbase, as “really decent people” but suggested Joel might be too nice for the job as he failed to be ruthless during past failures.
“I wouldn’t have tolerated Ed Woodward, or Richard Arnold,” Ratcliffe said. “Richard was a rugby man, he didn’t even understand football. Ed didn’t have the credentials to manage the club. He was a merchant banker, an accountant. He wasn’t the chief executive.”
Ratcliffe also questioned the decision to appoint David Moyes when Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
“I like David Moyes, and I think he’s a really good manager, but to go from Sir Alex Ferguson to Moyes is not where I would have gone,” he said.
“Moyes stepped into the shoes of Ferguson, who’s won the Premier League 13 times, who won the Champions League twice, and then you’re handing over to a guy who has never managed big players and had never won anything. He’s not necessarily got the personality to stand in front of them all.”