Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sold the naming rights to his cycling team, the Grenadiers, in a move which speaks to Ineos’ embattled business position and lack of resources to invest in Manchester United.
Ineos, the chemicals company co-founded by Ratcliffe in 1998, have owned the Grenadiers for coming up to six years. As well as their investments in football with United, OGC Nice and Lausanne Sport, Ineos also own stakes in Formula 1’s Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS and sailing’s Britannia team.
Unlike many of the Premier League’s billionaire class, whose idea of ‘box-to-box’ is going from one hospitality suite to the next to shake hands, secure deals and chinwag about EBITDA, Ratcliffe is a genuine sports nut.
He runs marathons and purports to have supported Manchester United since boyhood, though he has also found time to be a Chelsea season ticket holder. Whatever one thinks of his methods, the 73-year-old clearly wants a lasting legacy in sport.
After a dramatic start to 2026, what is your message to Sir Jim Ratcliffe?
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe arrives prior to the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City at Old Trafford on January 17, 2026 in Manchester, United Kingdom
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Just take a look at the Ineos Compass, an infographic devised personally by Ratcliffe as a “fun way of attempting to capture how Ineos works”. Sports and fitness are mentioned no fewer than three times.
In the ‘words we like’ section of the Ineos Compass, however, is another phrase which is more important in the world of business than Ratcliffe’s passion projects: “Cash doesn’t lie.”
Running sports teams has cost Ratcliffe billions of pounds to date, with no financial return in sight. With the core chemicals business struggling as it hurtles into debt deadlines and geopolitical headwinds, sport just isn’t Ineos’ A1 priority right now.
More United News
And that may be the reason they have been scaling back their interests in the domain in recent months – with a knock-on effect for Ratcliffe’s most valuable and demanding by far, Manchester United.
Ineos have taken a bit of a battering from the credit rating agencies in recent months and years.
Fitch and Moody’s have downgraded their outlook to ‘negative’ because the crisis in the chemicals industry and, more specifically to Ratcliffe’s company, Ineos’ very high levels of debt.
Debt isn’t inherently bad, but the consensus in finance is that Ineos will be in trouble if the loans they have taken on don’t lead to a turnaround in fortunes. They have placed a high-stakes bet.
So, just as Ratcliffe has stripped United back to the bare bones through cost cutting and job losses, Ineos are also recalibrating their budgets. Sport seemingly has been one of the first areas to be ‘optimised’.
Ineos have ended sponsorship deals with Tottenham Hotspur and New Zealand’s All Blacks. And though politics likely played their part in the termination of the Spurs deal, the same can’t be said of Ratcliffe’s plans to exit OGC Nice, where he is said to be looking for about £175m to sell up.
Manchester United co-owner and CEO, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Omar Berrada
Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images
The sale of the Grenadiers’ title sponsorship rights, which was first reported by The Times earlier this week, is the latest retrenchment.
The deal with Danish IT firm Netcompany will reportedly pay £100m over five years to take over the title. Ratcliffe and lieutenant Sir Dave Brailsford will stay on in their positions with the team, which is said to be costing them £30m annually. And although the team’s budget is slated to rise to £50m per year, the Netcompany deal will offset the impact at Ineos HQ.
According to University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire, this development further suggests that Man United should not expect any further Ratcliffe cash injections any time soon.
“The assets Ratcliffe has can’t be effectively monetised,” Maguire said in exclusive conversation with United in Focus.
“They’re highly indebted and want to position themselves as last man standing in the petrochemicals world. On that basis, they might be able to turn themselves around, but it’s hard times at present.
“United aren’t going to get any cash from the Glazers. Ratcliffe has been pretty generous in terms of the share issues and capital injections to date, but that’s not going to continue.”
INEOS Grenadiers riders pictured in action during the third stage of 84th edition of the Paris-Nice cycling race, a team time trial from Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire to Pouilly-sur-Loire (23,5 km), on Tuesday 10 March 2026.
Photo by DAVID PINTENS / BELGA MAG / Belga / AFP via Getty Images
As part of the £1.25bn Ratcliffe put up to buy a 27.7 per cent stake in United from the Glazers, the club received £238.5m in direct funding.
Their cash issues, however, are well-documented. Even with Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting, the club is still cash negative, meaning they have to rely on various forms of debt to bridge the gap.
Securing Champions League football will go a long, long way to helping United be financially self-sufficient once again and justifying the enormous transfer debt that the club has taken on, but further surgery is needed.
Commercial income has plateaued, for example, with United now at risk of falling behind the so-called ‘Big Six’ in terms of sponsorship, retail and events. And while a new stadium will likely deliver hundreds of millions in extra revenue, we are potentially a decade out from the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
There are some quick wins available for the club, though. They should soon sell their vacant training ground naming rights and training kit sponsorship rights, while the shirt sleeve deal with DXC Technology expires at the end of the season, as United in Focus exclusively revealed.
Together, those deals could fetch around £60m. But Ineos, says Maguire, won’t be looking to plant their flag at Carrington or Old Trafford in a sponsorship capacity.
“In terms of sponsoring United, which some have suggested could happen, I can’t see the benefit. Ineos are a B2B company and it’s an awful lot of expense to capture a few contracts in their core business.”
Join Our Newsletter
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox