Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he “doesn’t mind being unpopular” at Manchester United but would draw the line at the toxic level of abuse aimed at the Glazer family and walk away from the club in which he bought a 28.94% stake for £1.3bn.
The co-owner has embarked on a wide-ranging raft of staff and spending cuts since the Ineos billionaire took control of football operations last year. His attempts to boost revenue have included a mid-season hike in some ticket prices, affecting under-16s and pensioners.
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Ratcliffe has made clear his displeasure at players’ performances on the pitch, saying some were “overpaid” and “not good enough”. That prompted a stern reaction from the club captain, Bruno Fernandes, in the week United revealed plans to replace Old Trafford with a new 100,000-capacity stadium that could cost £2bn.
“I can put up with it for a while,” Ratcliffe said of the abuse in an interview published on the Times website on Saturday morning. “I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make at the moment.
“If I draw a bit of the ire, I can put up with that. But I’m no different to the average person. It’s not nice, particularly for friends and family. So, eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say: ‘Look, enough’s enough, guys, let somebody else do this.’
“They can’t really come to a match, the Glazers. They’ve retreated into the shadows a bit now, so I’m getting all the stick. We bought in and I haven’t seen them since. It’s: ‘Thank you, Jim, you’re doing a really good job.’
“At the moment, I don’t have security, I don’t have to walk around like that. But it would defeat the object, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t tolerate it at that level, it just wouldn’t be fun.”
United head to Leicester on Sunday after a rare positive week, earning a 1-1 league draw against Arsenal and making Europa League progress with an impressive 4-1 triumph against Real Sociedad on Thursday.
