In theory, it’s brilliant. In practice, it seems like a blissful mess. Manchester United have been waiting for a major trophy for 10 years. They raise money, but the team struggles. Now the owners are considering selling a quarter of the shares to another guy, and let him take care of the sporting side – a nice idea. Those who know business, manage the shop. Those who know football manage the team. If only it were that simple. The piece of cake This looks like a compromise where no one will be completely satisfied. Jim Ratcliffe essentially wanted to buy the whole club. When the unpopular Glazer family opened to sell United, last November, he ended up in a bidding war with Sheikh Jassim. British Empire vs. mysterious figure from Qatar. But now that it is clear that no one will pay the price – which some media claim is a ridiculously high $10 billion – Jassim has given up. And Ratcliffe will buy 25 percent of the shares if he gets to decide on the team. A small piece of the cake is better than nothing. WHAT NOW: United supporters face an uncertain future with a club facing some important choices. Photo: Jon Super / AP The parties are in negotiations, according to the English press. The whole plan is about Ratcliffe getting the team on the right course. But there are no clear signs that he will be able to do just that. Ratcliffe owns two football teams at the site, and neither of them has improved particularly. INEOS, the joint-stock company he manages, which makes chemical products, owns teams in cycling, sailing and Formula 1, among others. Several are doing well, but there has been no great success in football. In 2017 they took over Swiss side Lausanne-Sport, who have since bounced back and forth between the top two divisions and are now roughly where they started. In 2019, INEOS took over Nice, a team in the French top flight. They have come in sixth, ninth, fifth and ninth place – again much like before. MULTIPLE TEAMS: Jim Ratcliffe (TV) owns a number of teams in various sports. Here in conversation with Chris Froome of Team Ineos in 2019 Photo: Reuters Along the way, a number of leaders have entered and exited the doors. Nice has changed coaches five times in four years. In both Lausanne and Nice, Ratcliffe has given key roles to his own younger brother, Bob, who is football manager at INEOS. In Nice, Bob worked with the director Julien Fournier, but then both were thrown out by Dave Brailsford, who is the sporting director of INEOS. Nice has started this season well and is in second place. But until now there have been a lot of cooks and a lot of mess. And this in a club that Ratcliffe owns 100 per cent. Now he will manage United together with a family he really wanted away. In with the old, in with the new Although Ratcliffe has a good sporting plan, the question is who will do what. The best clubs obtain external expertise from the top shelf. A good example is city rivals Manchester City, who 11 years ago employed Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain, two of the directors behind Barcelona’s great team from 2003 to 2008. They then brought in the successful coach Pep Guardiola, and suddenly City became the best. Structure is important. Soriano is general manager, Begiristain is director of football and Guardiola is coach. Plain and simple. Then we come to United… There Richard Arnold is the general manager, John Murtough is the football director and Erik ten Hag is the coach. Which is fair enough. But new owners often employ their own people. But: New owners will move in here, while the old owners will stay. The football committee There is no ideal basis for a clear division of roles. And while it’s a nice idea for the Glazer family to just give up all sporting responsibility, it’s also unlikely as long as they own 75 percent of the store. Especially when the store’s income is affected by what happens on the pitch. So we quickly reach a compromise. Recently, Sky Sports wrote that Ratcliffe has proposed a “football committee” with three people: Himself, Brailsford and chairman Joel Glazer. What will this mean for Arnold, Murtough and Ten Hag? CONTROVERSIAL: Manchester United owner Avram Glazer has still not accepted an offer to sell the club. Here he greets manager Erik ten Hag after the loss in this year’s FA Cup final. Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill are the symbol of better times. Photo: AFP In addition, several names lurk behind the scenes. Journalist Ben Jacobs writes that Ratcliffe wants Paul Mitchell, formerly of Tottenham and Monaco, as sporting director. Will brother Bob get a new role? And what about Jean-Claude Blanc, who was previously general manager of Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, and who is now general manager of sports at INEOS? While we wait for the answers, it is hard to remember a top club that has been run, successfully, by two different owners. No house demolition The most positive thing that can be said is that something is happening. Anything is better for the fans than to see United continue with the boom purchases, while the Glazer family earns a fortune. Perhaps this is the first step in a process where Ratcliffe takes over a larger part of the shares and eventually gains full control. Maybe. At the same time, this is not the revolution that everyone wanted. The best outcome was that Ratcliffe got the family out. For 10 years, the club has paid off debts. For 10 years, coaches have talked about a lack of sporting competence and poor culture. For 10 years, Old Trafford has fallen into disrepair. The house must be demolished and rebuilt. But that doesn’t happen if the house’s owners refuse to leave. Renovation Instead, Ratcliffe’s proposal seems like a renovation. The key is to get a skilled sports director in place who can fix the recruitment once and for all. But even if that happens, a possible “football committee” and other voices can interfere. We also don’t know what’s going on with Old Trafford, which needs a big and expensive upgrade. But we know that City, Arsenal and Liverpool are far ahead. We know that Newcastle and Tottenham are better than for a long time. And we know that even Brighton and Aston Villa can now give United a fight for a place in the top six. That something happens is positive. It can hardly get worse. But for a club with United’s ambitions, that is hardly enough.
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