Sir Jim Ratcliffe won the race against Sheikh Jassim to invest into Man United, albeit with a minority stake at Old Trafford.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe described Manchester United as being ‘the dumb money’ when discussing a potential bid for the club in 2019, but his language might have been more colourful with the recorder switched off.
There has been over £1billion spent on transfers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and Richard Arnold said it best himself in his chat with supporters in a pub: “We have f***ing burned through cash.”
United have been football’s worst buyers for a decade and there has been a catalogue of errors committed, with a culture of incompetence deep-rooted in the corridors of Old Trafford.
The Glazers have been negligent custodians and they’ve employed the wrong people at board room level. Arnold and Ed Woodward should have never been given such power and the latter was a complete disaster.
Arnold will leave his position as CEO in the next five weeks and his departure was always expected when Ratcliffe’s investment was ratified, with the British billionaire set to acquire a 25 per cent stake for around £1.25bn.
The 52-year-old has improved United commercially during his time at the club and he’s been responsible for significant sponsorship deals, but his handling of the Mason Greenwood situation made his position untenable.
