We’ll win the medal for doing the right thing if he buys the club. But in a crass way, the Middle East oil tycoons make him look like he should be on the dole.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe: I want to buy Manchester United | Will make a bid for the club [Telegraph]
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You do realise it's not the 'oil' that people criticise the owners for but their incredibly questionable human rights records.
I do take the Nice point and it is a valid concern
I would point out however that it’s highly unlikely that they would run Manchester United in the same way they run Nice. You wouldn’t run Amazon and Home Bargains in the same way.
United seem to have football people there now in key positions (and magically we’ve improved loads since then) and it would be wise to keep them in place and listen to them
Im unsure. Ultimately Nice is a good footballing project and he's been heavily criticised for the handling of it.
There's just been a major revamp of club leadership and so far it's working out alright. Don't know if we need to get in VDS at this point. Not like him and his team have got everything right at Ajax. The Schreuder appointment for example along with allowing him to stay beyond Christmas have been stupid.
Yeah. Ultimately I’d want them to acknowledge that and explain their plans for United. But the Nice thing alone doesn’t throw me off
In the coming weeks I think there’s going to be a Middle East bid, a US bid etc. Plenty to discuss and weigh up
The ineos bid definitely isn’t going to be the worst of it
One side of the road there's two ugly American guys with a stall. Massive 'for sale' sign above the stall. Whatever their selling can be purchased by going up to the Americans on the stall and negotiating a price.
Ratcliffe has looked at the stall and rather than going up and trying to buy what the Americans are selling has instead gone to the opposite side of the road and said to onlookers "See that stall? I'm interested in buying what they're selling at the stall" and walked off.
Sorry but I've never bought Jim's interest has ever been genuine.
Ratcliffe has looked at the stall and rather than going up and trying to buy what the Americans are selling has instead gone to the opposite side of the road and said to onlookers "See that stall? I'm interested in buying what they're selling at the stall" and walked off.
Sorry but I've never bought Jim's interest has ever been genuine.
People just be saying any old thing these days I guess
In 2021 Ineos made 3.5 billion profit I am sure they can afford the club without needing other funding.
People are getting it mixed up Ratcliffe is the face but Ineos will be the buyer and they have a lot of cash
People are getting it mixed up Ratcliffe is the face but Ineos will be the buyer and they have a lot of cash
United has burned through 1 billion pounds on pointless debt repayments and dividends to the owners over the past 20 years - an amount that is literally 0 for most other clubs, and yet.. we are still among the highest spenders in football year after year in both transfer fees and wages. We don't need a questionable state fund owner. We literally just need an owner who makes good decisions like City's owners do, except let's the money generated by the club just stay within the club. We don't need the owners to pump money into the club beyond just clearing the debt that shouldn't be there in the first place.
Oh please oh please oh please let this happen.
This doesn't excite me at all. Apparently he wants to bring the old guard back, probably the class of 92. Don't want them anywhere near United, we need to move away from all that.
I think its important to realise that, whilst Sir Jim might be the romantic choice, there are huge question marks over whether he's got the funds and/or the will to invest the amount of money required to compete.
For a start, there is the £5-6BN asking price and the £600m debt. Then there is the money required for a stadium refurbishment and an upgrade to the training facilities.
Plus, I get the impression many fans fundamentally misunderstand what the actual cost of the Glazer ownership is in 2023. Whilst its definitely not a good thing that we lose roughly £50m a year to interest and dividends, that figure barely purchases a first team fullback nowadays and there's no guarantee Sir Jim would clear the debt and/or would not take dividends himself.
By all means, let's hope for Sir Jim but if fans think that all of our problems will disappear overnight and we'll be seeing Bellingham, Mbappe and Rice in 2024 I think they need a reality check
For a start, there is the £5-6BN asking price and the £600m debt. Then there is the money required for a stadium refurbishment and an upgrade to the training facilities.
Plus, I get the impression many fans fundamentally misunderstand what the actual cost of the Glazer ownership is in 2023. Whilst its definitely not a good thing that we lose roughly £50m a year to interest and dividends, that figure barely purchases a first team fullback nowadays and there's no guarantee Sir Jim would clear the debt and/or would not take dividends himself.
By all means, let's hope for Sir Jim but if fans think that all of our problems will disappear overnight and we'll be seeing Bellingham, Mbappe and Rice in 2024 I think they need a reality check
Not a fan of him as an owner.
I know Nice isn't United, but the job him and his team have apparently done there is very worrying.
I know Nice isn't United, but the job him and his team have apparently done there is very worrying.
Ratcliffe has a personal net worth of 15+ billion almost twice that of Roman and 3 x Boehly
I'm pretty sure he can afford it of he wants it bad enough
Ineos is not a Sports company, they are a Petro chemical company. Ineos Sports Group would be the buyer as a subsiduary of Ineos and they won't have access to anything like the funds people seem to think they will, if Jim buys us he will borrow the funds to do so, this fantasy that he or Ineos is going to pay cash for us needs to stop.
The interest may be £50m but the actual debt isn't going down is it
Ratcliffe owns 2/3rds of Ioeos so he's a bit more than a face
And he tried to buy Chelsea. Where are they again?
The news from today is from INEOS not SJR personally.
but they’ve officially registered their interest
If I had a billions of cash, I'd buy United. I'd expect others on here to join the consortium.
Oh well.
Oh well.
Did not say anything about him being a face so not sure what you are on about. He has not bought any of his other sporting projects for cash and his comments both on the Chelsea situation and on the general subject of buying United indicate he is not interested in doing so here either. He ha a high net worth but most of that is his comprosed of shares etc. He does not have 5 or 6 billion in cash sitting in his bank account and regardless of whether you buy the story of him being a fan, he is quite clear that he views owning a football club as an investment. He will want to make money and not lose it so in that way he is no better or worse than the likes of Boehly.
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You don’t just rock up at the Glazers, slap a suitcase of used notes on the desk and get given the keys.
With all due respect, this post betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the process that the club is currently going through.
You don’t just rock up at the Glazers, slap a suitcase of used notes on the desk and get given the keys.
Where have you heard that? Not seen that anywhere.
he won’t be borrowing against the club though right? that’s no longer possible I think
Ratcliffe = Nice
Oil money = City
Seems to be some peoples perception.
Oil money = City
Seems to be some peoples perception.
Right you didn't, the poster you replied to did, my bad
However - all these rich folk's wealth is based on shareholdings and such like - not States obviously
I have no idea about the fan thing, I'd never heard of him before all this came up
There's a load of delusional people chomping at the bit for us to pay for our new stadium after the Glazers have taken this money out of the club already.
They'll catch on but, as usual, it'll take them a couple of years of us being gazumped by all and sundry and not winning much.
They made spending promises of well over a billion of investment with their late entry into the Chelsea debacle
Glazers will sell to the highest bidder, end of. Jim is a business man as well as a Utd fan. I don't think he will pay over what he thinks it's worth.
https://www.ineos.com/news/ineos-gr...cquire-french-ligue-1-football-club-ogc-nice/
Ineos bought them. Then placed them under their INEOS Football subsidiary. It doesn't matter how it's structured internally. All the assets are ultimately owned and controlled by the same parent company.
Abu Dhabi don't own Man City directly. It's via the City Football Group etc.
And any other ME buyer would be the same
Supposedly so although what happened at Burnley suggests leveraged buyouts maybe are still possible but I don't think that would be his intent. I would guess the way he would put the financing together would be broadly similar to the Chelsea deal. Not as scandalous as the Glazers but the debt would still exist in some form and the club would be run as a business with a goal of turning a profit. It would be nice to see a commitment to invest x amount over a certain period as was the case with Chelsea but in that instance you had an owner who loved the club wanting to ensure its future, the Glazers don't give a stuff about what happens once they are gone. Chelsea also had the good fortune to see their 1.5 billion in debt dissapear overnight which again won't happen here sadly.
What will our transfer budget be if he bought us? 
There is a big difference between club debt and owner debt. If the owner is in debt and comes into trouble, they sell off their assets. United would be an asset with 0 debt (assuming they clear it if they takeover..), while the owner would have their own debt that they took on while purchasing the club. That's normal. Buying a club by putting debt on the club is what is fecked.
To finance a stadium and all that other good stuff, we'll likely need to take out club debt to do that. But that's fine and normal when operating a football club. It's an investment.
The bolded is the key. That debt is club owned and currently stands at around 500 million or so. We have not had any indication that new owners intend to pay it off and if they do it will likely only be to convert it into another loan. The idea that it will simply be paid off by new owners as a gift is fairly improbable. Chelsea had the good fortune that their debt was shifted to a holding company and then it was waived by Roman to close the sale, we are not in such a fortunate position.
What about my human right of having to undergo emotional and psychological abuse the past 10 years?
The Boehly group pledged 1.75 billion and surprise, surprise the first 800 million was secured this summer in the terms of a 300 million credit facility and 500 million term loan. Ineos were not offering to spend a billion of their own cash, they would have borrowed it and then invested just like every other potential bidder.
It's a PR activity to deflect off the ski clubhouse/Radcliffe Foundation investigation. Or the timing of official announcement is uncanny.
Besides why announce it publicly? Raine Group is using them to beat the bushes to unearth the more serious potential buyers?