Britain’s richest man won’t pay ‘dumb money’ for a Man Utd team that has ‘lost the plot’
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has explored moves for English teams in the past and is a Red Devils supporter, but instead invested in Ligue 1 outfit Nice
Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has no intention of investing “dumb money” in Manchester United as the 13-time Premier League champions have “lost the plot” since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
Having turned chemicals company Ineos into a £20 billion operation, Ratcliffe has previously explored the option of purchasing a leading side in England.
He grew up as a Manchester United fan, but has been linked with Chelsea, Newcastle and Leeds in the past.
But no deal has of yet been finalised, with Ratcliffe instead opting to purchase Ligue 1 outfit Nice for €110m (£94m/$121m) in August.
There are no regrets on his part at having passed up the chance to enter into discussions with the Glazer family at Old Trafford, with his fortune having been built on the back of smart financial decisions.
Ratcliffe told The Times of his decision not to seek a takeover of United: “[Ineos] never wants to be the dumb money in town, never, never.”
He added on the Red Devils: “They are in quite a big pickle as a business.
“They haven’t got the manager selection right, haven’t bought well. They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred.
“We won’t look elsewhere until we have had a good run here [at Nice]. We need to find out how to be successful before you ever want to write a big cheque. It’s quite difficult.
“United have spent an immense amount since Ferguson left and been poor, to put it mildly. Shockingly poor, to be honest.
“We have a different approach here to be moderately intelligent about it. Try to do it more grass roots, trying to locate young talent.
“Some clubs seem to have an ability to do that, Southampton, Lille. United have done it really poorly. They have lost the plot there somehow.”
Ratcliffe went as far as visiting Chelsea’s training ground when weighing up the merits of an offer to wrestle control from Roman Abramovich, but feels there is little value to be found in English football.
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He said: “You quickly get into some pretty stratospheric numbers.
“And even though clubs have those valuations today, nobody has ever paid those amounts of money.
“How much did Abramovich pay for Chelsea, £100m? The Glazers [at United], what, £500m? You can say it’s worth three, four billion but no one has ever paid those sums.
“Ineos has always tried to take a sensible approach. We don’t like squandering money or we wouldn’t be where we are today. It’s part of our DNA, trying to spend sensibly.”
