by It comes with the end for clubs with wealthy owners to receive inflated quoted prices when they first enter the transfer market, and this was the case when Ineos entered the world of football six years ago to buy FC Lausanne in Switzerland.
By Ineos’ own admission, those early days made it look naive in the market. That season Lausanne were relegated to the second tier of the Swiss Challenge League and since then they have been promoted and relegated again. There have been successes, such as the case of Dan Ndoye who went from the Academy and is currently playing in Bologna.
But some of those other early signings included Simone Rapp, who arrived from Thun on a fee and was loaned to St Gallen the following year. Enzo Zidane, son of the great Zinedine, arrived for free but has since slipped down the divisions in Spain. Francesco Margiotta, whose loan from Juventus is permanent, recently joined Serie C club Sestri Levante after a spell in Australia.
There was also naivety in terms of relations with fans, with traces still online of a petition when Lausanne supporters received any possible change to the club crest, incorporating the Ineos logo, albeit subtly.
Ineos’ task was to learn the football market quickly, and that is what it did, to implement a system that was not making “chequebook plays” in the words of Bob Ratcliffe, brother of Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and head of the company one hour. football Their goals were not unlike many other clubs in finding “appreciation assets”.
When Bob Ratcliffe sat down with Telegraph Sport in 2021, he used a phrase more than once that would sum up the Ineos way when it came to its football operations. He wanted something that would “wash his face”. In other words, it would pay for itself rather than relying on Sir Jim pumping in millions after millions.
If you’re a billionaire entrepreneur like Sir Jim Ratcliffe, you’re worth £29.688 billion according to the Council. The Sunday Times Rich List, people may expect you to shell out the cash for football luxuries. But Ineos’ strategy was different. He has bought OGC Nice and is yet to break the £30million barrier for a player.
Finding value in the market over major transitions
As Ineos enters the Premier League with a 25 percent stake in Manchester United, as well as control of football operations, history would suggest it will be worth more than heavy transfer splurges to get it right.
What Nice tried to do was find value in the market when Ineos first took over. While Paris Saint-Germain were paying more than £1 million a week in wages to Lionel Messi, Nice tried to find players who would increase in value. Amine Gouiri was signed for £6 million from Lyon and after two years moved to Rennes for €28 million.
Melvin Bard, a left-back, is another Lyon free agent and has been a regular in the current Nice side who are second in Ligue 1 behind PSG. At 23, Bard’s value is only increasing. But it hasn’t all gone according to plan. Kasper Dolberg cost £18.4 million from Ajax, then was sold to Anderlecht at a loss in the summer after two loans from France.
And the direction in which the transfer policy has been moving since Sir Dave Brailsford’s inspection of the club. Bob Ratcliffe left his role, and the transfer chief executive Julien Fournier resigned in the summer of 2022. Since then they have appeared randomly in the market, recruiting Aaron Ramsey (a contract that was terminated within a year), Ross Barkley (now at Luton) and Kasper Schmeichel (contract terminated in September).
They took Nicolas Pepe on loan from Arsenal but when he returned to London Arsenal waived his £72 million fee and let him join Trabzonspor.
Under Ratcliffe, they performed worse than under previous owners. So far there have been fifth and mid-table finishes, with the hope that they will be able to mount a challenge and keep up with PSG this year.
It is an overcrowded marker for clubs pouring in players. People who worked at Ineos respect Brighton, and they like Graham Potter who was at the Amex Stadium. Nice have lost ground in the last year or so but they certainly aimed to be part of that race rather than spend like Chelsea did in the post-Roman Abramovich era.
Ineos has also found it a crowded market in France. PSG has the budget. Historically, Lille competes, Marseille is an iconic club. Monaco has a favorable tax, which is important for paying players. And there is Rennes, who bought Gouiri and sold Jeremy Doku and Raphinha in recent seasons.
Interestingly, their multi-sport investment was an advantage for Ineos. When Chris Froome was with the Ineos Team, the Tour de France winner did part of his rehabilitation at the Nice facilities, rubbing shoulders with his football players. They have a level of detail befitting an elite sport. When they bought Nice one of the main signings was grounds manager Scott Brooks after previous spells at Arsenal, Tottenham and St George’s Park.
His first job was to use the right grass on training pitches and reduce injuries, the climate in the south of France being the most challenging.
At Nice, Sir Jim was known to receive a report after every game from Galtier during his time at the club, then a meeting of the executive committee every two months where the figures are analysed.
“If you look the way my brother, Andy [Currie] and John [Reece] run the business, the acquired assets were undervalued and they improved them operationally,” said Bob Ratcliffe when speaking to Sports telegraph in 2021. “Then you put the pieces together and a company succeeds. It runs very lean as a business.”
He looked at the Portuguese clubs, who do well to “wash their faces” but then Manchester United came on the market. An examination of the principles of Ineos, with all eyes on whether it can change the treacherous club.
