Sir Jim Ratcliffe starting to address Gary Lineker's Manchester United takeover concern

Christmas came early for Sir Jim Ratcliffe as he finally got his hands on his perfect present.

Investment in Manchester United from the INEOS founder was rubber-stamped on Christmas Eve following a 13-month process on the back of the Glazer family announcing "a strategic review" to their ownership. The 71-year-old will, initially, work alongside the much-maligned Americans while taking a leading role when it comes to footballing operations.

The work starts now for Ratcliffe in that sense as he puts together an action-plan to better United in the transfer market which will hopefully bring improved results on the pitch. However, while the fresh direction brings revived hope, it was not the fully-fledged takeover most supporters had wished for.

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There are questions as to how much of an impact Ratcliffe will have at Old Trafford given the difficult decade in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson years. Gary Lineker flagged up that particular concern on his The Rest Is Football podcast.

Speaking with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards on a recent episode, Lineker said: "It's hard to envisage it changing it that much, really. If you look at them now, how many players do they need to change things? Half the team?

"That takes time, that takes money and it takes good recruitment, which is the same with any club, whatever your budget is. Their [spending] has been pretty big, but that shows you how big recruitment is."

United will not get back to where they belong without spending. However, they also will have to splash any cash - in the short, medium and longer-term - more intelligently than they have for a decade.

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