Sir Jim Ratcliffe has six key questions to answer on Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has six key questions to answer on Manchester United
An erstwhile employee of Manchester United once said "fans can't have it both ways" after this correspondent lamented the waterfall gushing down from the Stretford End roof prior to the April 2019 derby.
They were referring to a new stadium and new players. That let the cat out of the bag. As long as the Glazers were in situ, United would get left behind on or off the pitch. It has happened with both.
With Sir Jim Ratcliffe's impending investment, United fans can hope for a more caring presence on the board. Ratcliffe is emotionally, as well as financially, invested in United and he has plotted a roadmap to end the Glazers' occupation.
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There are key questions Ratcliffe will have to answer promptly, though.
How much control will he have?
Ratcliffe's sporting ventures indicate he will not settle for a seat in the Old Trafford directors' box and assume the role of mere spectator. He said in February: "You can't really contemplate acquiring a brand like Manchester United and failing because the failure is just far too public and too excruciating."
Footballing operations have been reputedly promised to Ratcliffe's Ineos Group and while figures at United are not panicking after their worst start to a season in 37 years, the malaise dates back a decade and tangible change feels essential.
United have regressed this season and could be out of the Champions League as well as the Premier League championship challenge before Christmas. The Ineos-owned Nice have overseen substantial changes at hierarchical and recruitment level within the last year and are currently second in Ligue 1.
Will Ratcliffe be present?
Joel Glazer has not crossed the Atlantic to watch a United game since April 2019. Avram Glazer has only attended three United games in the last four years. Ratcliffe resides across the Channel in Monaco and could fly to Manchester on matchdays and arrive with ample time to enjoy the hospitality in the revamped directors' lounge.
Ratcliffe patently cares more than the Glazers and, as their 18-and-a-half year occupation continues, United matchgoers need a figure they can get behind and challenge in person. Ratcliffe has to attend fans' forums and the fans' advisory board meetings in person.
There is no pictorial evidence of Ratcliffe inside Old Trafford, so how regularly has he attended United games? Why did he get a Chelsea season ticket when he could have had a box at Old Trafford? Clarity and assurances are required from the Failsworth-born boyhood fan.
Will Old Trafford be revamped or rebuilt?
United's stadium is a greater priority than a squad that has been enhanced at the cost of £406million on Erik ten Hag's watch alone. There has not been a single expansion of Old Trafford during the Glazer family's ownership, the leaking roof has been raised in fans' forums three years apart and it will not host matches during the European Championship in 2028.
Old Trafford has come to symbolise United under the Glazers: a relic of past glories that has been neglected and in need of investment. Ratcliffe may sit on the same board as the Glazers but he has to portray a new image of United ahead of what he must hope will be a new dawn.
Will there be significant personnel changes?
Joel Glazer vowed to communicate to United supporters when the family completed their toxic takeover in May 2005 and again in the wake of the Super League venture in 2021. He has broken those promises and only communicates with a handful of staff at Old Trafford.
There are still too many Glazer apologists on the Old Trafford payroll who cite Joel's privacy. A cull is unforeseeable while the Glazer family retains a 69% share of United but certain figures need to be phased out to usher in a new era of transparency.
Ratcliffe, as a 'local' fan, has an open goal to engage with matchgoers and assuage them amid the prospect of continuing protests against the Glazer siblings.
Arnold, chief financial officer Cliff Baty, chief operating officer Collette Roche and manager Erik ten Hag have all met Ratcliffe.
What is the recruitment strategy?
Nice turfed out their Premier League rejects in the summer, have assembled a younger squad and are the only unbeaten team in Ligue 1 after eight games. Whatever Ineos's intentions for United's recruitment, it cannot be much worse. "We have f-----g burned through cash," chief executive Richard Arnold admitted during his pub talk in June 2022.
Ineos do not have to over-complicate it, as United did with their recruitment reboot under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when they expressed a preference for British talent they predictably reneged on in the next transfer window. Nor should Ineos kowtow to a manager whose reliance on talents schooled in the Netherlands has been flawed and misguided.
John Murtough, the incumbent football director, is two-and-a-half years into his stint but joined United a decade ago and was involved in recruitment prior to his promotion under Woodward.
How long will it take to catch up with City?
Yesteryear, United were England's dominant club with the best-in-class stadium and training complex. Having returned to Bayern Munich's stadium and visited their training ground last month, the English club that mirrors Germany's biggest club are Manchester. City, not United.
And that has been the case for the best part of a decade. United are not just playing catch-up with City on the pitch but off it. A £300m enhancement of the Etihad Stadium is planned and that is the Manchester football stadium that will host European Championship matches in 2028.
Once that expansion is completed, the Etihad will be perfectly geared for a Champions League final. Old Trafford hosted the 2003 final yet, despite remaining the biggest club ground in England, is absent from the Euro 2028 list of stadia.
