Sir Jim Ratcliffe is likely to adopt a more hands-on approach once his deal for a minority stake in Manchester United is ratified.
The Ineos chief, 71, has struck an agreement with the Glazer family to acquire 25 per cent of his boyhood club; a deal which will bring a taxing year-long process to an end. The terms of the £1.3billion proposal will give Ratcliffe control of United’s sporting operations.
Ratcliffe is expected to make significant changes once he is in power and chief executive Richard Arnold has already confirmed he will be leaving the club in December. His replacement and a new sporting director are expected to be confirmed in due course by Ratcliffe, who has held further talks with United co-owner Joel Glazer.
However, according to a new report from The Manchester Evening News, Ratcliffe has been left ‘unimpressed’ after learning more about how the club operates under the Glazers during a number of virtual meetings with Joel.
The report goes on to outline that Ineos is particularly dismayed with the club’s current departmental strategies, although it remains to be seen if these are areas of the business which Ratcliffe has already earmarked for change.
Mirror Football outlined last week that football director John Murtough is set to be the next executive to depart the club as part of Ratcliffe’s shake-up, while director of football operations David Harrison is also expected to move on imminently.
It seems likely that Ratcliffe will be far more hands-on with his approach than the club’s current regime as he implements plans to install several of his own people within the Old Trafford hierarchy. The Glazers have taken a backseat since acquiring the Premier League giants in a leveraged buyout back in 2005 but Ratcliffe has designs on running the club in a completely different way.
That much is clear from insight provided by Francesco Farioli: the head coach of the French club Ratcliffe and Ineos already own, OGC Nice. In an interview with The Telegraph, he detailed how he has regular contact with Ratcliffe but is free to do things his own way on the pitch – a huge contrast with how Manchester United is currently run.
“I met Jim Ratcliffe a few days after (taking the job) because he was very busy,” Farioli explains. “But from his side, the first time we met, the feeling he transferred to me, it was really like the feeling of somebody that was really aware of many things.
“I like to listen to the feedback I receive because it’s good to have different perspectives and different input. Afterwards, I have freedom in the decisions on the pitch.
“In other things, a bit more for the medium and long term, there is always an open door. We share our opinions and we have periodic, day-by-day or weekly conversations. But also with the club, we have a monthly review of everything with all the parts involved – about the strategy, about the present and also about the future.”