Billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s first year at Man United has not gone to plan
MANCHESTER: It’s been a year since one of Britain’s richest men bought into its most famous soccer team and vowed to bring the good times back. So far, it hasn’t gone to plan for Manchester United or Jim Ratcliffe. The record 20-time English champion are languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League, losing vast sums of money every year and facing fan unrest. Even head coach Ruben Amorim said recently that this might be the worst team in the club’s storied history. That’s not all on Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of petrochemicals giant INEOS, but it has been a rocky start since he paid $1.3 billion for an initial 25 percent stake in United and assumed control of their soccer operations. There have been high profile hirings and firings, brutal cost cutting, a hike in ticket prices and new lows on the field for a team that had been in decline for more than a decade before he became minority owner. While there was triumph in the FA Cup last year, that success has been overshadowed by supporter protests, job losses, unconvincing transfers and humbling defeats. Bold plans Ratcliffe said his investment was “just the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football.” Those ambitions feel further away now than they have in decades, with United 15th in the standings and closer to the relegation zone than the top six after a woeful campaign.