by Sir Jim Ratcliffe will look to push through some changes at Manchester United after taking control of football operations after buying a 25 per cent stake in the club from the Glazer family.
Telegraph Sport looks at some of the early challenges facing Oldham-born billionaire Ineos and his team at Old Trafford.
Solving the perennial recruitment problem
Sir David Brailsford, the man behind British Cycling’s extraordinary success at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and sporting director of Ineos, has been charged with an audit of United’s football operations amid an expected overhaul of the recruitment department. Ratcliffe and his closest advisers believe that an incoherent, second-rate, gun-scattered transfer policy over the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired is a significant – if not the only – factor behind the team’s ongoing struggles.
They are looking at a number of sporting directors, including the likes of Paul Mitchell, formerly of Spurs and Monaco, and Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman, and yet they could try more than one recruitment expert. to bring in as they try to correct years of horror. dissipation and deliberate thinking.
John Murtough, United’s current director of football, is expected to be part of any transfer process under Ineos but it remains to be seen whether his responsibilities are downgraded and redefined or he is moved on. Erik ten Hag has already said publicly that he expects to still have his say on United’s transfer policy given the cross on signings he wrote into his contract. But the club’s decision to allow such a move for the manager – and a largely insular approach of naming players with an Eredivisie background and/or pre-existing relationship with the Dutch – looks even more misguided and repeat as part of the failures during. The Kingdom of Louis van Gaal. The speed with which the Premier League secures the deal may be affected by the delay in recent weeks which has already lost crucial time in the January transfer window.
Appoint a new CEO
Richard Arnold left last month ahead of the impending arrival of Ineos leaving United in need of a new chief executive. Patrick Stewart, the club’s legal adviser, is filling the role on an interim basis with Arnold offering transitional support until the end of the month but it is vital that United get the right man for the job. Jean-Claude Blanc, former chief executive of Juventus who currently holds the same role with Ineos Sport is firmly in the running and has experience of running a big club and delivering a new stadium. Blanc was instrumental in the construction of the Italian club’s 40,000-capacity Allianz Stadium, which opened in 2011. The Glazers are expected to have a say in the identity of the new man but Ratcliffe will hope to have an ally in the role.
Sorting out Sancho’s position
Ratcliffe could put himself on an early collision course with Ten Hag if he tries to force United manager Sancho, who has been in exile for more than three months since, to accuse the Dutchman on social media for lying about the reasons for his absence. against Arsenal on 3 September. United’s new minority shareholder will have to find out if there is any realistic chance of a rapprochement but so far the club have stood by Ten Hag that Sancho must show genuine remorse and make a full public and private apology in order to put back.
At the moment, a move away from Old Trafford in the January transfer window still appears to be in the best interests of all parties but the deal between Ratcliffe and the Glazers could also face an early test if bids come in for the winger England. What if Ratcliffe agrees to a move to offload Sancho that the Americans – who still command a majority – do not consider financially viable? United fans will hope that the lines of communication and agreements between the parties are strong enough to prevent such situations from happening. Anything less would be farcical.
Juventus and Borussia Dortmund are among the clubs closely monitoring Sancho’s situation. Saudi Arabia could also renew their interest after a late, failed approach in the summer window by Al Ettifaq, managed by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, although Sancho is thought to prefer to stay in Europe at the stage this is his career.
Getting rid of the dead wood
Sancho is not the only player facing an uncertain future in January, when Ineos could look to make up their mind early. Anthony Martial is approaching his ninth year as a United player and he can’t move on fast enough. Sergio Reguilón’s loan deal has a break clause and the left-back could return to Spurs. In addition, Ineos will have a decision to make on goalkeeper Raphaël Varane, who was sidelined by Ten Hag until the recent injury crisis and is thought to be a player of interest to clubs in Saudi Arabia.
Brailsford’s success in cycling was built on a fierce team ethic, meticulous planning and his philosophy of “marginal gains” – the theory that even a one per cent improvement in many small areas could have a huge cumulative advantage. “It only takes one bad apple in the group and it can ruin the whole dynamic,” he once said. “Ideally, you don’t want people to be robots, and you want mavericks to be their authentic selves, but if they’re destructive, self-centered or too harmful in a team environment, get them out.”
United have talked for years about rooting out wrongdoers, passersby and substandard players in their squad but have rarely backed up that rhetoric with ruthless swagger, instead stockpiling players far and wide past their sell-by date and paying the price, in more ways than one. Will that finally change?
Quiz time Ten Witches
After an encouraging debut campaign, in which Ten Hag ended United’s six-year wait for a trophy, he made some big decisions, particularly around Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire, and restored some order and discipline after a toxic mess get, the wheels have started to change. quit this season. Injuries haven’t helped but so many of Ten Hag’s signings have underperformed and there are major concerns that the Dutchman – recruited in part for his coaching ability – has improved with so few players, no discernible playing recognition, he still lacks work the team. ethics and discipline and their game management is so naive.
All of these issues have been reflected in a series of poor results and terrible performances. When Ineos attended Old Trafford and Carrington for a series of presentations back in March it was clear that Ten Hag was held in high esteem but recent months have been largely unimpressive for the manager and Ratcliffe’s arrival is likely to much to the spotlight.
A solution to the injury epidemic
“Ineos will look at everything – no stone will be left unturned,” said one source, including United’s abysmal injury record this season. Murtough said in October that the club had begun an internal audit to find out why so many players had suffered problems and to see if there were any patterns that could lead to changes in their approach to improve injury prevention in the future.
A hectic schedule and quick recovery from last season are obvious factors – United are not the only Premier League club with injury problems. But there are concerns that Ten Hag’s high-intensity training sessions between games have not helped matters at times. Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, recently spoke about how little the Premier League and European champions are training reasonably to avoid their squad being ravaged by injury, with an emphasis on recovery. “If we are training, we don’t have players for the next game,” he said.
Navigating UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules
Uefa regulations prohibit a person from controlling more than one club competing in Europe. So Ratcliffe must find a way to convince European football’s governing body that he does not have a “decisive influence” on the decision-making of United or Nice, the French club he owns, or one of them could be banned from Europe.
Brighton owner Tony Bloom faced a similar situation in the summer when he was forced to reduce his ownership stake in Union Saint-Gilloise so that both the Belgian club and their Premier League counterparts could compete in the Europa League this season.
The Glazers are understood to have recognized the potential conflict and it is hard to believe that Ratcliffe – who owns Swiss Super League side Lausanne-Sport – does not have a plan in place to address any future issues to meet Uefa’s requirements.
Nice are currently second in Ligue 1, five points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain, and currently on course to qualify for the Champions League. Lausanne is in 10th place in Switzerland’s top flight.
Setting out a plan for Old Trafford
On top of the purchase price, Ratcliffe is providing an additional £245m in phased investment for infrastructure needs. With the cost of redeveloping and expanding Old Trafford – or building a whole new stadium on the surrounding land – estimated at between £800m and £2bn, a quarter of a billion barely scratches the surface when it comes to necessities of that institution. far too long by the Glazers.
The Old Trafford project has effectively been on hold for the past year and United’s “strategic review” has dragged on but fans will – rightly – want to know what the future plan is for the stadium now Ratcliffe is on board. It has been almost 18 months since a survey was sent out asking supporters to give their views as part of a consultation process and there is no more time to waste.
