Sir Jim Ratcliffe told ultimate Man Utd priority, as ‘respectful’ INEOS owner praised by Liverpool icon
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is buying a £1.4bn share of Manchester United
Former Liverpool captain and manager Graeme Souness has revealed he told Sir Jim Ratcliffe not to buy a football club before he agreed to purchase a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United, while also explaining how the British billionaire can help take the Red Devils back to the glory days.
Ratcliffe moved into pole position to become part of Man Utd’s ownership after Sheikh Jassim pulled out of negotiations on Sunday. The Qatari banker had become frustrated with the Glazers after his final bid, worth £5billion, was knocked back.
While Sheikh Jassim was intent on buying Man Utd in full, Ratcliffe knew this would be difficult to pull off. Instead, he is poised to buy 25 per cent of Man Utd for £1.3bn.
It has been widely reported that Ratcliffe, who owns French side Nice through his company INEOS, wants to assume control of Man Utd’s football operations as he has not been impressed by the way the club has been run in recent years.
But, in a blow to Ratcliffe’s plans, the Financial Times revealed on Friday that Joel Glazer would still be involved in a newly-formed committee which would deliberate the biggest footballing decisions.
Now, Souness, who helped Liverpool win five English titles and three European Cups in the 1970s and 1980s, has given his take on the situation. In his column for the Daily Mail, Souness has named recruitment as the most important thing Ratcliffe must get right if he is to turn Man Utd’s fortunes around.
Souness also explained how he was left impressed when meeting Britain’s former richest man amid his discussions to buy Chelsea in 2019.
‘I met Sir Jim Ratcliffe through a friend four years ago when he was interested in buying Chelsea, and I was immediately impressed by one thing,’ the Scot wrote.
Graeme Souness praises Ratcliffe but sends Man Utd warning
‘He came down to the reception of his office to meet me and I’m thinking, ‘He’s an important man, but he’s being respectful’. It was nothing to do with that. His office was on the eighth floor and he said, ‘Do you mind if we walk up the stairs? I like to do this a few times a day’. So it was all just part of his exercise regime!
‘I walked with him, stair for stair, and that dedication to his fitness left an impression on me. Now, he has a mountain to climb at Manchester United.
‘The club in which he is about to take a 25 per cent stake are so far behind where they want to be, and where they should be. They are one of, if not the biggest club in world. Yet, they have a modest group of players.
‘There is one area Ratcliffe must address with urgency. Recruitment. This is the most important thing you have to get right at any club. Man Utd, since Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill left in 2013, have given a masterclass in how not to do it, and they’ve spent over £1bn in the process.’
Souness continued: ‘There are no new ways of playing football. It was, is, and always will be about having fabulous players. Man Utd, with non-football people making football decisions, have got this horribly wrong for more than a decade.
‘Consider this — if you put every Man Utd player on the transfer market, would they get their money back on any of them? I don’t think so.’
While the Glazers, and the people they have put in charge of Man Utd, are largely to blame for the constant transfer errors, Souness thinks manager Erik ten Hag also needs to look at himself.
‘The manager doesn’t get a free pass,’ he declared. ‘His three former Ajax players he has signed at a cost of £170m — Antony, Lisandro Martinez and Andre Onana — were his picks, and I’m sure Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord would also have been.
‘I don’t think any of them have massively improved the team, so Ten Hag cannot absolve himself from recruitment issues.’
