Sir Jim Ratcliffe is proposing a new Manchester United football committee of himself, Joel Glazer and Sir Dave Brailsford if his deal to acquire 25 per cent of the club is agreed.
As part of the £1.3bn deal for a quarter of the Premier League club, Ratcliffe’s deal for a minority stake would give him control of football operations at Old Trafford.
The Glazer family would retain control of the commercial side of the business but Ratcliffe would also have a say on those matters due to his stake in the club.
Ratcliffe’s deal is still being finalised, but whatever happens, United are unlikely to be big spenders in the January transfer window.
As revealed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in an interview with The Athletic last month, the Glazers usually allow their managers three big signings a year and United generally prefer to do the bulk of their business in the summer.
Man Utd’s proposed football committee: A who’s who…
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is close to acquiring 25 per cent of Manchester United for £1.3bn. He owns cycling team INEOS Grenadiers, Ligue 1 side Nice, who he took over in 2019, and FC Lausanne-Sport, a Swiss Super League club.
The Greater Manchester-born billionaire also owns a third of the Mercedes Formula 1 team. Mercedes driver Sir Lewis Hamilton describes Ratcliffe as a “part-boss and part-partner”.
Joel Glazer is the current Manchester United executive co-chairman.
Sir Dave Brailsford is INEOS director of sport and is also team principal of cycling team INEOS Grenadiers. They have not won the Tour de France since 2019 and do not have a rider in the top 10 of UCI rankings.
Is Ratcliffe’s deal getting closer?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
French football expert Jonathan Johnson explains how Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s OGC Nice have faired under his ownership
An indication that Ratcliffe’s deal for United is getting closer is a report from Bloomberg which claims INEOS will hold a credit update call on Monday at 3pm to update shareholders. The petrochemicals company is not commenting.
Thursday’s Manchester United board meeting was standard practice and has not been called to specifically discuss this deal. They are usually partly virtual because the Glazer family are based in the United States.
It is also unlikely there will be a resolution to the strategic review which sparked the long-winded takeover race involving Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim after it was announced last November.
The Qatari bid led by Sheikh Jassim withdrew from the process last weekend eight months after initially declaring its plans for buying Man Utd. This, it is thought, was the only offer for 100 per cent of the club.
Ratcliffe initially wanted to buy the Glazers’ 69 per cent shareholding, but has agreed to leave the American family with their majority stake ahead of a potential full takeover.
