Since news broke out that the Glazers had accepted Ratcliffe’s bid for minority investment, there has been a lot of speculation regarding when an official announcement would be made.

There was an expectation that confirmation of the deal would be done during the November international break but it did not happen.

A recent report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that it’s likely Ratcliffe would come in before Christmas.

Sky Sports have now corroborated this information and indicated that an announcement could be made public as soon as next week if no further delays occur.

It’s thought that Ratcliffe’s proposal will see the INEOS billionaire take charge of United’s sporting operations. This comes amidst the team’s struggles in Europe, with the Red Devils currently on the brink of elimination from the Champions League.

The 20-time English champions are not faring any better in the Premier League and pressure is mounting on Erik ten Hag after another dismal performance saw his side suffer a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle on Saturday.

Sky Sports’ Mark Kleinman explains, “Manchester United Football Club and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the petrochemicals billionaire, aim to announce within days a £1.25bn deal that will see him take a 25% stake in the Red Devils.”

“Sky News understands that the two sides have pencilled in early next week to confirm the long-awaited transaction, which will involve Sir Jim’s Ineos Sports taking two boardroom seats at Old Trafford.”

“Sources said the timetable could yet slip again, but that an announcement early next week was now expected by both United and Ineos.”

Kleinman adds that neither Ratcliffe nor his close confidant Sir Dave Brailsford will join United’s public company board.

As part of the arrangement, the Glazers will also sell Ratcliffe 25% of their B-shares, which of course carry greater voting rights.

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However, in true Glazer fashion, the official announcement still hasn’t arrived.

Now, David Ornstein, in an interview with NBC Sports, has given some important updates on the process and the personnel associated with it.

Ornstein says that fans shouldn’t hold their breath on a sale going through this week, as “lawyers take time, Glazers take time”.

He added that there are no serious concerns about the process though, which is still ongoing and expected to proceed smoothly, just with time.

He went on to some personnel-related decisions that could come with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival.

Ratcliffe favourite Sir Jean Claude Blanc is expected to become the United CEO in the worst-kept secret about United’s new management so far.

In a blow to United’s plans in the winter window, Ornstein also said that even though their bid is expected to be ratified before January, it’s too soon to be handing them executive powers.

Therefore, INEOS will only come in January in an advisory capacity and won’t take firm decisions, or execute them.

Finally, a big name was ruled out by Ornstein from the Sporting Director race.

Former Liverpool man Michael Edwards, the architect of their modern team, was touted as a potential name to watch out for by many outlets.

However, Ornstein has now confirmed that Edwards is expected to refuse the Sporting Director job because he is looking for a sole football CEO/director job that covers a much larger remit.

In that scenario, Paul Mitchell and Dougie Freedman are expected to lead the race.

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Sir Jim is closing in on completing his 25% partial investment into United which will essentially make him a minority owner of the club.

The expectation is that the British businessman will be granted full control of United’s sporting operations, which he fully intends to overhaul.

Already, changes have started to take place. Richard Arnold recently stepped down as CEO of the Red Devils.

Former Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain chief Jean-Claude Blanc is being lined up to replace Arnold.

With John Murtough’s future also far from secure, the likes of Paul Mitchell, Paolo Maldini and Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman are all said to be under consideration for a sporting director role at Old Trafford.

It’s understood that Sir Jim’s close confidant, Sir Dave Brailsford is also poised to play a crucial role in the running of United.

According to The Independent’s Miguel Delaney, Sir Jim’s appointees will not be constricted by the Glazers’ and their slow decision-making process.

Over the years, the American family has been accused of slowing things down, with all key decisions at the club requiring their approval before being put into motion.

At times, this has proved to be a challenge due to the different time zones. The Glazers of course reside in Florida, US.

Delaney reveals, “The Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe are still discussing the legal points of what the ownership structure of Manchester United would look like after INEOS’ takeover of a 25 percent stake, having agreed on the broad principles of the purchase.”

“The prospective deal has been described by those involved as one of the most complicated in the long recent list of football takeovers, due to the distinctive condition of the minority owner taking full control of the sporting side of the club.”

“Ratcliffe’s eventual football staff would not have to run major decisions past the Glazers, as has been the case for the last decade.”

As per Delaney, the main issue holding up the official announcement of the deal is separation, since Sir Jim has been insistent on the inclusion of legal clauses that provide a path to eventual full ownership of United through equity.

There have been “tentative private conversations” about United’s new-look football structure, but firm decisions will ultimately be made after Sir Jim and his people have had ample time to properly assess the club and how it functions.

The Independent adds that amidst all this, former Liverpool transfer guru Michael Edwards is admired by INEOS and is very much in the fray to possibly become United’s next sporting director.

However, it remains unclear whether the 44-year-old would be interested in making a sensational return to football after departing Anfield.

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The expectation was that Sir Jim was closing in on an investment into the club that would essentially make him a minority owner of United.

A previous report covered by The Peoples Person revealed that an official announcement would likely be made during the ongoing November international break.

However, nothing has materialized so far and the Red Devils are set to make their return to action on November 26 when they travel to Goodison Park to face Sean Dyche’s Everton.

It was recently relayed that there were no guarantees Sir Jim’s investment would be wrapped up before the Thanksgiving holidays which start in the US on Thursday.

While many would have undoubtedly thought that this translated into just a delay of around a few days, The Mirror journalist David McDonnell has suggested otherwise and indicated that fans may have to wait significantly longer.

As per McDonnell, it’s likely that an official announcement of Sir Jim’s arrangement with the Glazers could be made public in 2024.

He told Stretford Paddock, “Our understanding was that it would be done during the international break. A couple of weeks ago, that was the intel that everybody was getting – that it would be done in the next fortnight.”

“Now it looks like it’s going to be pushed back until the new year, but I think you’ve seen with the departure of Richard Arnold that Sie Jim Ratcliffe has not been slow in asserting his authority and flexing his muscles if you like. I don’t think there’s any doubt that it’ll go through, it’s a question of the process, ratification and the paperwork and the official elements of the deal.”

McDonnell added, “I don’t think anyone, however much they think they’re in the know, can put a timeline on it and say definitively for sure when things are going to happen. All we can say is the latest information is that it was going to happen this week and now it looks like it’ll probably be pushed until the new year.”

He further stated that while United supporters will undoubtedly be disappointed with the outcome of the process and how it has panned out, it’s a slight positive that the Glazers are relinquishing some control.

Sir Jim’s proposal will of course see the INEOS billionaire be granted control of the club’s sporting operations.

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For a few unusually comforting days, Manchester United fans were beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. OK, so the Glazers, the 18-year de facto owners of the club and the fans’ nemesis, were not quite “out” yet, but Ratcliffe, Manchester lad, lifelong fan and self-made billionaire, was “in”. Ratcliffe was taking over the football “side” of things (the fact that we’re talking of football as being one “side of things” at a football club is evidence in itself of what is so badly wrong).

Ratcliffe was getting rid of the current structure above manager Erik ten Hag – the manipulative, insensitive, corporate, rugby-loving CEO Richard Arnold, the shadowy, inept, bungling totally out-of-his-depth director of football, John Murtough and the even-he-doesn’t-know-what-his-function-is, totally pointless jobs-for-the-boys technical director, Darren Fletcher.

Sir Jim had lined up either Paul Mitchell or Michael Edwards to replace Murtough, two of the best sporting directors, by reputation at least, in the world.

With Ratcliffe also rumoured to have negotiated a path to assuming full control of the club in the future, with 25% ownership already secured, there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Arnold resigned and reports came thick and fast that Murtough had already cleared out his desk and was “definitely” leaving, so the MEN’s Samuel Luckhurst said. Fletcher, too, looked likely to be departing.

£245 million was going to be invested in the delapidated stadium. Ratcliffe was possibly going to inject funds to clear United’s financial fair play problems so that significant money could be spent in January. We weren’t exactly happy, but we were getting there.

Thank you, James Ducker, of The Telegraph, for bursting our balloon.

OK, Arnold has gone. That much is true. But as for the rest …

“John Murtough expects to play a part in any transition under Sir Jim Ratcliffe at Manchester United despite uncertainty over his position as football director,” Ducker says, just to get us off to a bad start.

The reporter says that Murtough’s role is so wide that, even though a sporting director would be brought in, he “expects to work with Ineos during the transition process … and potentially beyond if his role evolved in a way that worked for both parties.”

“Staff say Murtough … has shown little inclination to take a back seat since it became clear last month that Ratcliffe was likely to come on board,” he adds, before the real stinger:

“Murtough is still hoping to make more additions of his own to United’s existing recruitment team as part of major changes to the scouting set-up at youth and first-team level.”

Not only that, but the names in the frame for the sporting director role seem to have changed. Edwards is out. Mitchell is still there but is joined by “Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman … Atalanta’s Lee Congerton, the former AC Milan duo Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara and Andrea Berta of Atletico Madrid.”

With Ducker also claiming that Ratcliffe will consult with Sir Alex Ferguson over the appointment, that probably makes Freedman a shoo-in, despite almost inarguably being the least qualified, given Fergie’s well-established predilection for anyone or anything Scottish.

The reporter then gives us more bad news, claiming that “there are no guarantees [Ratcliffe’s investment] will be wrapped up before Thanksgiving holidays start in the US on Thursday and some close to the process fear it could be next week before an announcement is forthcoming.”

Whilst on the surface of it, another week or so shouldn’t matter, these delays are crucial when it comes to the January window. The Premier League will take 6-8 weeks to ratify the change, which means Sir Jim will not be able to put in the money needed for January signings in time.

Still, nonetheless, we will at least have Ratcliffe making all the football-related decisions from then on, ending the well-documented paralysing and excruciating decision-making process caused by Joel Glazer micro-management that has hampered United for years in transfers and contract renewals, right?

Wrong, says Ducker, who explains that his “sources stress that Joel Glazer, the United co-chairman, remains the majority shareholder and ultimate decision maker.”

*SIGH*

To make matters worse, some have also noted that it is possible that Sir Jim’s 25% investment, if split between the powerful class B shares and class A shares equally in dollar terms, would mean in reality he would only have 5% of the voting power at the club.

It does not sound great, but let’s hope and choose to believe that Sir Jim has a better plan than this. After all, he didn’t get to be a billionaire by making bad choices.

The post John Murtough determined to stay on at Man United as Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s revolution starts to unravel appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.

The Glazer family have claim to be the most hated family in all of Manchester. Well, at least the red side of the city.

The Athletic has lifted the lid on the Glazers’ way of dealing from the time they purchased Manchester United to the contemporary glacial takeover process fans are currently witnessing.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS are seemingly on the cusp of buying out a 25% share of the club and will supposedly claim full sporting control. Sadly, for the vast majority of United fans, 25% means that 75% of the club they adore still belongs to the Glazers. According to The Athletic article, “if, as expected, INEOS’ bid is a 50-50 split between Class A and Class B shares, then their 25 per cent stake is unlikely to equate to no more than five per cent of the voting power at board level”. Therefore, United are still stuck with the Floridians for the foreseeable future.

So, what are the three main features of doing business with the Glazers?

Indifference to United fan opinion

Anti-Glazer sentiment has never been much of a concern for the American family. The brothers of Joel and Avram have constantly taken decisions that show a shocking disinterest in what the local supporter wants. This was so brutally exposed during the Glazers’ prominent role in signing up Man United to the European Super League fiasco, as reported by The Peoples Person at the time in 2021.

Furthermore, when buying the club in 2005, they were well aware of the fan outrage as some supporters took to buying stock to try and stop the takeover going through. One source close to the deal stated, “they thought they knew about fans and that all you had to do to satisfy them was win games”. Eighteen years of protest, most clearly seen in the pitch invasion of Old Trafford that saw the club’s game with Liverpool in 2021 called off before it even started, would suggest they were wrong.

Money Money Money

Whilst fan engagement was never a priority, the Americans’ true intentions soon became clear. When entering the club, the new owners soon ripped up deals with brands like Vodafone. Before the Americans, Manchester United looked to make deals with companies that they felt shared similar values and connections. The telecommunications company was viewed as a recognised name offering an excellent price but also, its branding was red, which matched the club’s kit. The Glazers in contrast, just saw dollar signs and thought the previous sponsorship deal was a massive undersell. They would go on to sign a deal with AIG worth a record £56m at the time.

Their thirst for extracting every penny from the club met no end. Such fanciful ideas that showed a downright disregard for the club’s history and tradition included floating a club-branded balloon through the streets of Manhattan as part of department store Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade. Another such money-spinning concoction was offering a so called “fantasy package” where the rich could train and mix with the team, as long as they paid for the privilege.

While none of these ideas ever came to pass, the incredible debt loaded on the club while the Tampa Bay owners have continued to fill their pockets is a clear indication of what they really saw the club has, a cash cow.

Hoarding of power

Another key aspect of Glazer philosophy is secrecy and the hoarding of power. This can be seen in all facets of how they run the club. This is most obvious to fans with the incredibly slow dealings and indecision in the transfer market they have had to endure over the years. Another clear example is the seemingly endless takeover battle between Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe. If Jassim had not pulled out, it is anybody’s guess what the current situation would look like.

One source claimed that when it comes to major decisions, “the Glazers would take it away, sit on it, discuss it as a family, and you would hear nothing for months.” However, the American family’s inability to delegate can also be seen at lower levels in the club.

Staff responsible for ticketing at Old Trafford once spent weeks working on a ticketing price campaign, to suddenly be dictated to what the prices for the new season would be via e-mail. This is Glazer efficiency and trust in others in a nutshell.

All in all, theirs is a tale of greed, obsessive control and indifference to fan opinion. It is eighteen years of the Glazer family slowly but surely, gnawing away at the soul of Manchester United.

The post Indifference, greed and hoarding power: A Glazer guide to business appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.

While the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea continue to avoid strict punishments, clubs outside top-six are being made an example of, as Everton’s statement indicated.

The fury of these clubs could be about to increase if a new rule comes into effect.

The Telegraph reports that the Premier League is in the process of introducing a new way of allocating prize money to its clubs.

Currently, the ratio in which the money is divided stands at 1.6:1.

That means, last year Manchester City, the table toppers, took home nearly £161 million while bottom club Southampton made £100 million by being in the Premier League.

Under the new rules, the ratio could be increased to 1.8:1, which means more money for the teams finishing at or near the top of the league and less trickling down.

This rule would increase the gulf between clubs who already make more money due to their size and commercial revenue as they will take a bigger share of competition revenue as well.

The report states that the reasoning behind this change is the increase in league revenue along with the Consumer Prices Index.

A high rate of inflation has been pegged as being favourable for smaller clubs so this is being brought to address those “swings and roundabouts”, as per the report.

For United, this move will be beneficial but the increasing wealth gap, and the tendency to widen it further, wouldn’t bode well for the league.

The concentration of resources and victories at the top of the table hurts the marketability of the league in the long run, as French and German leagues can attest to.

The post Manchester United could be set to benefit from Premier League’s new prize money allocation rule appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.

Manchester United have boldly projected that by June 2027, the club will be generating over £1bn in revenue.

The Athletic claim that during a sales pitch to potential investors Sheikh Jassim and, the eventual winner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the club bullishly predicted that “they will generate £1billion ($1.2bn) in annual revenue by the end of the 2027 financial year.”

The figure would be hypothetically reached through the increasing of broadcast, commercial and matchday income over the coming years. An upgrade or expansion to Old Trafford has not been factored into the estimated numbers.

The writer of the piece, Dan Sheldon, asserts that this amount of revenue is “bordering on unachievable”. To be fair to United, their revenue has been growing over the last few years. 2021 saw a total of £491.1m posted, the following year £583.2m and this year was given at £648.8m. The Red Devils project that 2024 will see somewhere between £650-680m. The Athletic then query where the club will find this extra £350m to reach the billion mark in the next three seasons.

The infamous Ed Woodward, the club’s former executive vice chairman, once claimed that the Manchester United commercial juggernaut was so unstoppable that what happened on the pitch had little to do with the team’s ability to generate money off it. There is some logic to this, as revenue has increased since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson but results have tailed off massively.

However, The Athletic questions this logic. They state that a source close to the club compared United’s situation to that of a snake. In this particular metaphor, the head of the snake is the team’s on-field performance and the body is the financial side of the operation. Sure, you can cut off the head and the body will continue to wriggle but not forever. Basically, there will come a point where poor results will begin to substantially damage revenue sources.

Dr Rob Wilson, a football finance expert, paints a similar picture to the snake metaphor. The club has seen a record £900m Adidas deal agreed over 10 years and Qualcomm have signed a deal to become the front of shirt sponsors from the 2024-25 season for around £60m per year. Wilson also believes it is very feasible the club would reach an impressive £650-750m but getting from £750m-1bn, is a “different story”. The financial expert from Sheffield Hallam University states that “mediocre sport performances” would make hitting such a target impossible.

Wilson does believe there are some ways to reach this mythical one billion figure, but only coupled with trophy success and regular finishes in the top 2 of the league. The expert states that if the Red Devils continue to finish outside the top 2, never mind the top 4, and also fail to regularly reach the latter stages of the Champions League, they cannot sustain the revenue they are making, never mind get to 10 figures.

So, how do Manchester United go about realising this dream?

The first method he believes is non-matchday revenue. He makes the bold assessment that Manchester United’s “digital footprint in the Middle East is bigger than the sum total of every Premier League team combined” and this is in the backdrop of poor performances and their rivals, Manchester City, being owned by the Abu Dhabi group. In fact, the club claims to have a staggering 1.1 billion fans and followers across the globe. It estimates that 74m come from the Americas, 296.1m from Europe, Middle East and Africa and a whopping 731.7m in Asia and the Pacific.

Effectively, if you could engage every supposed fan and follower across the world to spend just £1, you could reach the billion. Wilson believes that fan engagement is the “golden ticket” and such a crazy numbers of eyeballs watching every game would be “highly attractive” to potential sponsors.

Another key objective would be engaging with younger fans in places like the Americas. The average age of a football fan in the U.K. is over 40 years old but, in the U.S., it is a significantly younger 16-34 years old. The finance expert believes finding ways to engage them to spend their cash on the club is key to their target.

Other ways to generate the billion would be to start improving the amount the club receives from player sales. Dan James and Dean Henderson are cited as two of the few examples where United actually made any sort of decent profit from a player sale instead of taking a big financial hit. Wilson also highlights that revenue could be raised through selling naming rights and obtaining sleeve sponsors.

Another path would be the increase in price of matchday tickets. The club have put up the price for an adult ticket by 5% this year after a freeze in price for 11 consecutive years. The Athletic assert that this alone could generate an extra £40-50m.

The final route to £1bn mentioned is TV deals. UEFA have recently agreed a deal with Paramount Global, the owner of the CBS network for an eye-watering $1.5bn, so $250m a season spread over 6 seasons. A big increase on the current $100m.

The new Champions League format could also benefit the club, if they qualify of course. As part of the proposed expansion to 36 teams, England could likely earn a fifth spot for the tournament. The Champions League expects to bring in £3.1bn in revenue in the period 2021-2024. They predict that figure to balloon to between £4.6-4.8bn from 2024 onwards.

The article finishes by saying if a team from the Premier League will reach a billion, United would most likely be the first to do it. However, the snake cannot go on wriggling without its head. The team must start winning trophies and crucially qualifying for the Champions League largely every season. All eyes will be on the Mancunian club’s account figures on 30th of June 2027.

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https://x.com/SkySportsPL/status/1725493415821898055?s=20

The long-awaited investment is not the full takeover that United fans wanted, but Ratcliffe is expected to take full control of football matters and invest much-needed money into the club’s infrastructure.

There is also rumoured to be a path where he will be guaranteed the option to extend his investment to eventually achieve full control of the club.

According to Sky, Sir Jim is paying $33 a share for his stake, “representing a more than 75% premium to yesterday’s NYSE closing share price,” reporter Mark Kleinman explains.

Exclusive: Sir Jim Ratcliffe's swoop for a 25% stake in @ManUtd, which could be announced in the early part of next week, will be priced at $33-a-share (or thereabouts), representing a more than 75% premium to yesterday's NYSE closing share price. https://t.co/UdU8d10YR4

— Mark Kleinman (@MarkKleinmanSky) November 17, 2023

Sir Jim is expected to bring in his own people to occupy senior roles at United, with current CEO Richard Arnold’s departure already announced and others, such as director of football John Murtough, director of football operations David Harrison and technical director Darren Fletcher all likely to follow suit.

The likes of Sir Dave Brailsford, Jean-Claude Blanc (as CEO), Paul Mitchell (as sporting director) and Dougie Freedman (as operations director) have all been linked with the upcoming vacancies.

As reported here recently, Ratcliffe’s investment could mean that United will have funds injected into their transfer kitty in time for the January window, although this will also require careful negotiation around Financial Fair Play regulations.

It is also a race against time, with the Premier League expected to require 6-8 weeks to ratify the change to the club’s structure.

These are cautiously exciting times for United fans who have watched their club disintegrate both on and off the pitch under 18 years of Glazer ownership.

Ratcliffe does not have a magic wand and his own record at OGC Nice has hardly been a roaring success to date, but he is a local lad with a passion for the club and understanding of football, which immediately elevates him onto a different plane than the Americans.

He is also a self-made billionaire so his business acumen is proven, unlike the Glazers, who inherited their own fortune from their father, Malcolm.

The post Sir Jim Ratcliffe set to announce 25% stake in Manchester United today appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.

The deeply unpopular Glazer family had announced a strategic review last November and now after a year, the fans are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

While most supporters would have wanted to see a complete sale, the INEOS chairman decided to break the impasse with a minority bid first with the view of taking complete control within the next two years.

Ratcliffe might not get the chance to salvage United’s season in January

The British billionaire is expected to take control of sporting matters once the deal gets ratified by the United board and once that is done, a lot of old personnel are expected to leave with INEOS bringing in their own set of people.

United’s transfer activity has been largely hit-and-miss under the American family with different managers assembling an expensive but dysfunctional bunch of players.

Ratcliffe’s entry is scheduled to change that with a core team in place that will handle matters from now on with many outlets reporting United are eyeing multiple additions to the squad as early as January.

However, as per The Telegraph, the INEOS chairman is set to face yet another delay thanks to the Premier League before he can pump in money to help the club.

And the latest report suggests he might not get a chance to help manager Erik ten Hag with the delay set to be anything between six to eight weeks.

Personnel changes in order once Ratcliffe enters

“There will be a gap of between six to eight weeks between the Ratcliffe deal being announced by United and then ratified by the Premier League, during which time the Oldham-born billionaire will be unable to contribute to club operations.”

The Telegraph also revealed that once the deal gets ratified, the Glazers are set to pocket around £650 million after selling their Class B shares to Ratcliffe.

Among the likely personnel changes at the club, Jean-Claude Blanc, a leading figure at INEOS Sport and formerly chief executive at Juventus and a senior member of the Paris St-Germain board, is in the running to succeed Richard Arnold.

Football director John Murtough is also skating on thin ice with former Crystal Palace man Dougie Freedman and ex-Monaco chief Paul Mitchell among the early contenders.

The post Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s minority deal to be ratified by the Premier League, could take upto two months appeared first on Man United News And Transfer News | The Peoples Person.