From a sporting perspective, Manchester United football club is in the hands of its new owner. British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, owner of the chemical company Ineos, took over 25% of the club’s shares from the American Glazer family.
According to British media, the value of the acquisition is almost 1.5 billion euros. Ratcliffe will manage the football side of the club, which sees Erik ten Hag as head coach for the second time. Manchester United announced that they want to invest 345 million euros in the club.
Ratcliffe already has a cycling team and several football clubs, including France’s OGC Nice. The American Glazers ruled Manchester for seventeen years.
Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani had previously made an offer of approximately 5.7 billion euros for all shares of the club.
Ratcliffe, 69, has been in talks with the Glazers, who last year hinted they wanted to sell their stake in United. After more than a year, the deal was finally completed the day before Christmas. The takeover still needs to be approved by the Premier League.
local boy
Ratcliffe describes himself as a local: “As a lifelong supporter of the club, I am delighted we have come forward,” Ratcliffe said on the Manchester United website. “We will continue to move the club forward with Ineos Sport Group’s global sports knowledge and investment resources.”
With an estimated fortune of more than €33 billion, Ratcliffe is the UK’s second richest resident. He made his money from Ineos, a company he founded in 1997, a major chemical industry group with annual sales of tens of billions of dollars.
Takeoff call Glaser
United fans have been looking for a different owner for years than the Glazers, who are also the major shareholder of the American football club Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Many fans felt they were exploiting United, who had had a terrible season primarily commercially, and were therefore desperate to see the Americans leave.
Ratcliffe tried to take over Chelsea from Roman Abramovich last year but it failed. The Russian sold the club to an American consortium led by Todd Boehly.
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
