Major Ineos strategy change offers Manchester United hint

Think of Sir Dave Brailsford and Ineos' forays into sport and one phrase springs to mind. Marginal gains is the motto by which Brailsford delivered success into British Cycling long before Sir Jim Ratcliffe set his sights on what was then Team Sky.

It is an ethos that fits with Ratcliffe's approach to sporting investment. It was about being smarter than the rest, not splashing more cash than them. His infamous accusation that Manchester United were the "dumb money" in football was evidence of that.

The idea of marginal gains and being smarter and cuter than the rest has seeped into plenty of the investments into sport that Ratcliffe has made in recent years. It is no coincidence that Ratcliffe and Brailsford have struck up such a strong relationship, with the latter now Ineos' director of sport.

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That role has meant Brailsford played a prominent role in the early months of Ratcliffe's £1.25bn investment in United. Brailsford has been the boots on the ground at Carrington, assessing what the club does right and, more importantly, what it does wrong.

We have already seen Ineos make changes in the way that staff work and in terms of the people appointed to key positions. More marginal gains were expected to try and improve performance at a football club that hasn't come close to offering value for money in recent years.

The challenge facing Ineos at United is similar to the challenge facing the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team. It's an organisation that blew their rivals out of the water during the Team Sky days and the peak of Brailsford's