Reporter | Yang Yuman
On December 25, 2023, Beijing time, Manchester United announced that they had reached an agreement with Sir Ratcliffe, the chairman of the English Premier League, to purchase 25% of the club's shares for £ 1.3 billion.
In the future, the power of Manchester United's football affairs, including the affairs of the Manchester United men's team, Manchester United women's team, and all levels of Manchester United's youth training echelons, will be handled by the English Football Club.
According to other media reports, after reaching an agreement, Manchester United may need 6 to 8 weeks to obtain approval from the Premier League regulatory authorities. Until the agreement is approved, Ratcliffe and Ineos Group are temporarily unable to exercise any power in the club.
In fact, in the past year, there have been rumors of Manchester United being acquired, and the "old club" Glazer family has not stopped looking for new buyers.
Starting from February 2023, both Ineos Group and Qatar's Jasim Consortium have expressed their intention to acquire Manchester United and have maintained communication with the Glazer family.
The Jasim consortium has offered five times, but none of them met the expectations of the Glazer family and were rejected. Due to the slow progress of the acquisition, the consortium announced its withdrawal from the acquisition competition as early as October.
In this way, British chemical tycoon Ratcliffe is likely to become the ultimate buyer. After several negotiations, both sides finally finalized this agreement worth £ 1.3 billion.
According to the 2023 Forbes Global Billionaires List, Manchester United's new shareholder Ratcliffe's net worth has reached $22.9 billion (approximately RMB 168 billion), ranking first on the UK wealth list.
In recent years, the Ineos Group, led by Ratcliffe, has made significant investments in the sports industry. Before acquiring shares in Manchester United, the group had reached agreements with two professional football clubs, namely Nice Club in Ligue 1 and Sports Club Lausanne in Switzerland.
In terms of team operation and management, Ineos Group also has rich experience. In 2019, Ineos acquired Nice Club in Ligue 1. Especially this season, the team has achieved excellent results, ranking second in the Ligue 1 standings, only behind Paris Saint Germain.
In addition to football, the Ineos Group also has bets on F1 (Formula One World Championship) and cycling tracks. In 2020, Ineos acquired one-third of the shares of the F1 Mercedes team, and seven time F1 champion Hamilton was even rumored to have joined Manchester United's acquisition team. In 2019, Ineos purchased the franchise rights for Team Sky bicycles and later changed its name to Team INEOS, winning the Tour de France championship.
It is still unknown whether the Ineos Group, which has come with a huge sum of money, can inject momentum into the lackluster "Red Devils" this season.
The 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League group stage matches from Groups A to D. As a traditional powerhouse in the English Premier League, Manchester United lost 0-1 to Bayern Munich at home, finishing last in Group A and being eliminated.
In this round of 6 group stage matches, Manchester United achieved 1 win, 1 draw, and 4 losses, while also setting the worst record for an English team in a single Champions League group stage with 15 losses.
Throughout the entire Premier League season, Manchester United has completed 24 matches and lost 12. In the previous season, the team lost 12 games, but they played a total of 62 games with a loss rate of only 20%.
The performance on the field was poor, and the team management was also constantly in turmoil.
In mid November 2023, Richard Arnold, the CEO who had worked for Manchester United for 16 years, stepped down, and various executives debated the renovation of the club's home stadium at Old Trafford.
But the asset rich Ineos Group will use its "cash" capability to solve this problem. According to the agreement, Ineos will provide $300 million for the investment and construction of the Old Trafford Stadium.