Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s deal to buy a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United is built on a crucial assumption: that the chemicals billionaire and his team have a better idea of how to win football matches than those currently in charge.
That belief comes from lessons learnt across his company Ineos’ sports business, which spans cycling, motor racing, rugby, running and sailing.
In their statement announcing the deal on Christmas Eve, United co-chairs Joel and Avram Glazer praised Ratcliffe’s record. “Through Ineos Sport, Manchester United will have access to seasoned high-performance professionals, experienced in creating and leading elite teams from both inside and outside the game,” they said.
Ratcliffe’s experience in European football has the most direct relevance to United. His time as owner of French top tier club OGC Nice charts a steep learning curve, costly mistakes, sporting underperformance and bad luck, but some more recent signs of promise.
At United, Ratcliffe will seek to improve the fortunes of one of football’s most celebrated clubs — all without having full control. The team has not won the Premier League in more than a decade since the retirement of legendary coach Sir Alex Ferguson, and at the halfway point this season United remain well outside the title race.
“We are here for the long term and recognise that a lot of challenges and hard work lie ahead,” Ratcliffe said in the statement announcing the deal. “Our shared ambition is clear: we all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football.”
United will become the most prominent asset in Ratcliffe’s sporting empire — a sprawling project born of passion, according to those close to him. The stake purchase ends a year-long search by the Glazer family, and follows a failed attempt to invest in FC Barcelona and a doomed bid for Chelsea FC last year. The deal also gives Ratcliffe, 71, a say at a world-famous brand as he tries to grow his company’s consumer-facing businesses in fashion and cars.
Football has been part of the Ineos empire since it acquired Swiss club Lausanne-Sport in 2017. The team was relegated soon after. Bob Ratcliffe, Jim’s brother who was then in charge of Ineos’ football interests, admitted afterwards that as owners, the company had been naive by overspending on big name players and “not getting advice from the right people”.
Yet some of those mistakes were repeated following the €110mn takeover of French club Nice OGC in the summer of 2019. The new owners arrived to find a club lacking structure and run largely on longstanding personal relationships, according to those working in French football at the time. Instead of overhauling the set-up, Ineos chose to stay loyal to those already at the club, taking a hands-off approach.
“They quickly realised they didn’t have the experience,” said someone who has had dealings with Nice in the past who described Ineos’ early time in charge as “chaotic”.
Transfer policy often focused on older, well-known names rather than rising stars or value for money. Arrivals in the summer of 2022 included England international Ross Barkley, former Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey and Kasper Schmeichel, the Danish goalkeeper. The team went on to finish ninth, failing to qualify for the Champions League, while all three players have since moved on.
Nice endured turbulence in the dugout too. The club is on its fifth permanent head coach since the takeover, a symbol of frequent changes in direction, personal dramas and lacklustre results.
Off the pitch the club has wrestled with empty seats. Its home stadium, the Allianz Riviera, was built as part of France’s bid to host Euro 2016, justifying its 36,000 capacity. Yet Nice has struggled to fill it with fans, with attendances last season averaging only 22,000.
Money has been made available. Since Ineos arrived in Ligue 1, the club has the third-highest net spending in France, behind Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain and south coast rivals Olympique de Marseille. Nice has spent €263mn on transfers in that time, according to figures from Transfermarkt, recouping €129mn from sales.
But poor performances endured. Earlier this year Ineos found itself the subject of fan protests at Nice, with some groups refusing to go to the club’s stadium.
However, Nice’s trajectory appears to have shifted since an audit of its operations in the summer of 2022 by Ineos’ director of sport and former cycling coach Sir Dave Brailsford, which led to a clear-out of executives and a number of important hires. Brailsford is set to be a central player at United.
Just over a year ago, Nice poached sporting director Florent Ghisolfi, who had helped RC Lens achieve promotion to Ligue 1 and left behind a low-cost team challenging PSG for the title.
Soon after, Ineos hired Jean-Claude Blanc, a football veteran, as the new chief executive of its sport division. The 60-year-old, whose previous roles included general manager of PSG and chief executive of Italian club Juventus, has been tipped as a possible future chief executive of United.
Spending at Nice in the summer of 2023 was directed towards younger talent, while long-term bets in the transfer market began to pay off. For example, centre back Jean-Clair Todibo, who joined from Barcelona in the summer of 2021 for €8.5mn, is now a highly-prized asset and has been linked with a big money move to United.
The French side also appears to have found its rhythm on the pitch for the first time since the takeover under new head coach Francesco Farioli, who was virtually unknown before being hired in the summer by Ghisolfi. The 34-year-old Italian had only been a manager in the Turkish league for two years before his move to France.
After 17 games, Nice sits second in the table — just five points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain and well on track for next year’s Champions League.
Ratcliffe’s overall record across sport is patchy. Kenyan-born Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours with backing from Ineos, while Olympic gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie hopes to mount a serious challenge at the 37th America’s Cup next year with the Ineos Britannia sailing team.
But the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team has failed to produce a Tour de France winner since shortly after the chemicals conglomerate bought and renamed the previously dominant Team Sky in 2019. Mercedes’ long winning streak on the Formula One track came to an end after Ineos bought a 33 per cent stake in the team, although sweeping regulatory changes are largely to blame.
It remains to be seen how all these lessons will inform decision-making at United, a far bigger club, or how Ratcliffe will navigate his partnership with the Glazers. But the rocky years at Nice have at least provided the Ineos team with a valuable education in European football.
“Whether it is good or bad, ultimately it is still experience. Smart people learn from it,” said another person who has done business with Nice under Ineos. “Jim and Dave know what they don’t know.”
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