2023-12-24 19:02:57
The Glazer family has finally sold, after a year of procrastination, part of Manchester United to British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, founder of the petrochemical group Ineos, eager to restore the English giant to its former glory, the club announced on Sunday.
The American owners remain in control, of course, but the sale of 25% of the shares to the 71-year-old industrialist represents a first significant disengagement since their arrival in 2005. Before, perhaps, a more significant withdrawal? The boss of Ineos, already owner of OGC Nice among others, paid 1.25 billion pounds (around 1.44 billion euros) to enter the capital, according to the club press release.
«Find your place»
The agreement provides that Ineos will have “management responsibility» football-related matters. Ratcliffe recently said he wanted to see Manchester United, currently in sporting difficulties, “find your place“. The club is eighth in the Premier League, 12 points behind leader Arsenal after its defeat on Saturday at West Ham (2-0), its eighth in 18 days. In the Champions League, he was eliminated in the first round, in last place in Group A.
This is not the epilogue that the new minority shareholder, eager to buy the club in its entirety, dreamed of, nor the supporters of the Red Devils, angry by nearly two decades of decried governance and synonymous, in their minds, with sporting decline. . The latter accuse the Glazers of having put the club in debt at the time of its takeover and of not having invested enough to allow the Mancunian institution to remain competitive.
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