SIR JIM RATCLIFFE could be forced out of Manchester United THIS YEAR.
The British billionaire, 72, invested more than £1billion to take a 27.7 per cent stake in his beloved Red Devils little more than a year ago.
To say it has been a tumultuous rollercoaster ride so far would be an understatement.
Part of the minority takeover entrusted the running of the club to Ratcliffe from the Glazer family, who remain the majority owners.
And he has wasted no time in making his mark with an overhaul of the board, a new manager, hundreds of redundancies and various unpopular money-making measures – from increased ticket prices to the staff Christmas party being cancelled.
He has even made a start on plans for a brand-new £2bn, 100,000-seater stadium to replace the crumbling, leaking Old Trafford.
However, the Ratcliffe reign at Manchester United could be all over later this year.
According to Bloomberg, the Glazers have the option to sell the club in six months’ time.
And should they go ahead and proceed with it, they can force Ratcliffe to give up his United.
The report does add that Ratcliffe would have the option to make his own bid first.
And it is understood the Ineos chief not only wants to keep his stake – but increase it if the opportunity arises.
It is unclear what the Glazers plan to do with the club.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”‘Silence is deafening’ – Man Utd fans ready to protest at Arsenal clash and vow to ‘rise again to defend our club'” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6368828514112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]The American family continue to own United from afar and keep a hands-off approach, even more so with Ratcliffe in charge of the day-to-day operations.
Bloomberg state, though, that the Glazers were still happy with the state of the club at the end of last year.
[authenticated-scripts src=”%3Cscript%20class%3D%22palin-poll%22%20src%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesun.co.uk%2Fpollingwidgets%2Fv3%2Fwidget.js%3Fquestion_id%3D107472%26game%3Dpolling%22%3E%3C%2Fscript%3E” type=”embedded” width=”100″ /]That is despite the club losing more than £100million in Ratcliffe’s first year and results on the pitch getting worse.
Under new boss Ruben Amorim, United are 15th in the Premier League table.
Internally, the ambitious plan is to win the title again by 2028.
Off the pitch, the financial landscape is bleak.
They posted losses of more than £300m over the last three years to put them at risk of breaching PSR rules while debts now stand at approximately £700m.
So even if the Glazers did want to sell, finding a buyer willing to take on the mess of Manchester United could be difficult.
It would likely require another mega-rich state-backed bid – similar to the one that rivalled Ratcliffe from Qatar’s Sheikh Jassim.
And one speculative option could be for the Qataris to go back in for United.
With Newcastle and Man City owned by Saudi Arabian and Emirati groups respectively, Qatar has been late among the wealthy states of the Gulf in getting in on the Premier League act.
And the woes of PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi across the Channel may just motivate the oil-rich state to put its money elsewhere.
Al-Khelaifi, 51, is the chairman of beIN and the Qatar Sports Investment group – which in turn sees him president of Paris Saint-Germain.
Al-Khelaifi has clashed aggressively with rival Ligue 1 owners – even calling Lyon counterpart John Textor a “cowboy” in leaked footage from an online meeting.
He has also, according to Agence France Presse, been charged with complicity in an “abuse of power” case this month relating to a key vote.
And finally, Al-Khelaifi – who has failed to deliver the Champions League since his appointment in 2011 – has expressed his frustration that PSG have been unable to buy their Parc des Princes stadium from the Parisian Government.
