Sir Jim Ratcliffe insisted his investment into Manchester United is his “most exciting” project yet and revealed he expects the 25 per cent Ineos stake to be ratified in February.
Manchester-born billionaire Ratcliffe was attending his first game at Old Trafford since it was announced his petrochemicals company will take a minority share in the stuttering Premier League giant, deciding to hold an impromptu pre-match press conference with a small number of journalists to confirm a few matters of interest.
Standing behind the desk where Erik ten Hag usually tries to explain away another defeat, the tall, gangly Ratcliffe was in relaxed mood as he shook journalists’ hands before heading to take his seat in the directors’ box, next to Sir Alex Ferguson, for the match.
“I am very excited to be here, but I can’t answer any questions, really, because that would be inappropriate, honestly. It’s a big match… we normally do well against Spurs,” he said.
Asked whether his deal to come in at United was as exciting as anything he had done in his career, given he holds minority stakes in several other sporting institutions, Ratcliffe smiled and said: “Correct. Yes. I have done a few exciting things, but this caps it all. There’s no question about that.”
The 71-year-old was reluctant to name his favourite United player at first, as he didn’t want to comment on the current crop – who can blame him – before Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona were put forward as his preferences.
Ever the businessman, Ratcliffe made sure to explain he can talk more publicly when he passes the Premier League’s fit-and-proper owners test and other formalities are dealt with.
“I think it’s three or four weeks,” he said. “Early Feb.”
A colleague interjected saying “early-to-mid-Feb”, before Ratcliffe added with a laugh: “We hope they don’t find anything dodgy in our CV!”
