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Sir Jim Ratcliffe continued his recent series of public interviews with a conversation with Manchester United’s official club website, opening up on his love of the club and the process he had to follow to secure his 27.7% of the Old Trafford side.
Speaking to the site, the English businessman described the feeling of owning the club as a “boyhood dream that is not supposed to come true”. He declared that he “has always been a passionate supporter” of the team and recalled moments going to see the Red Devils from the Stretford End as a youngster, gushing that there is “nothing like going to Old Trafford”.
Despite claiming Eric Cantona was his hero, he admitted that it was the likes of George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton were “the two icons of his boyhood”.
He described a situation of going to school in Failsworth where “half the class was blue and half the class was red” and his family just happened to be red.
The billionaire also expanded on his most cherished moment as a United fan, and it will come to no surprise to anyone that he brought up that famous night in May in the Camp Nou in 1999.
He was one of the lucky few, alongside his son, to witness Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s late winner in person. Speaking on the matter further, he described the “extraordinary atmosphere” that night in the Catalan stadium and described the winner as “one of the moments of my life” and proclaimed it is “what football is all about”.
The INEOS CEO then expanded on why his petrochemicals company had decided to get into the mix for the ownership of the club.
He claimed that INEOS have an “interesting collection of sport positions”, referring to their involvement in cycling and Formula One.
However, they always “had their eye on Premier League football to complete the collection of sporting assets”.
Delving into the sale process, the 71 year old revealed that they needed “to play the long game” and it required a “fair degree of patience” which he admitted was not his strong suit.
However, he made sense of the whole process by stating, “good things never come easy”.
Ratcliffe then opened up on the big change there has been to his and his family’s life since news of the interest in buying United entered the public domain.
He claimed that his family was not so “used to seeing his face in the papers” and that he had a “rather anonymous life up until Christmas” but that was all down to the size and pull of the name, Manchester United.
Discussing the team’s reaction to the news that broke on Christmas Eve, INEOS had reached an agreement with the Glazers, he said that since his takeover, the club has responded really well and has played “very well” and in a “cohesive” manner, in contrast to what they were doing earlier in the season.
Numerous players like Diogo Dalot and the coach, Erik ten Hag, have already spoken in glowing terms about the positive effects the takeover news has had on the squad and the excitement for what is in store for the future.
Finally, the businessman talked a little about his own passions and that he is always busy, but that is exactly how he likes it.
The new United co-owner revealed that he has completed over 30 marathons and two ultra-marathons. He also described himself as “a bit of an explorer”, as he has gone on expeditions to the South Pole and crossed the Gobi desert.
Ratcliffe has certainly made a positive start by dealing with people head on and there certainly seems to be a lot more accountability than the secretive Glazers. The reorganizing of the footballing structure with the appointments of Sir Dave Brailsford, Jean-Claude Blanc, Omar Berrada and most likely, Dan Ashworth, is very much a step in the right direction.
United fans all across the globe will hope that INEOS and the lifelong United fan will very much carry on in the same vein over the next few years to get the club back to where it, and he, believes it belongs.