Potential Investors Hold Virtual Meetings With The Glazers Over Manchester United Take-Over

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has held virtual meetings with Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer about Ineos Group’s upcoming investment in the club.  Ineos founder Ratcliffe reportedly spoke to Glazer on video calls as he finalized a deal to buy a 25% stake in United. 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is also said to have had extensive discussions with Glazer about possible changes to United’s structure, including possible personnel changes. 

United boss Richard Arnold and sporting director John Murtough are believed to be in danger. Arnold joined United in 2007 and took over as United manager in February 2022. Murtough, who is approaching his 10th anniversary at United, has risen through the ranks and was appointed as the club’s first sporting director in March 2021.

OGC Nice, owned by the Ineos Group, is currently unbeaten and leads Ligue 1. It appointed Fabrice Bocquet as general manager in September 2022, while Florent Ghisolfi was fired by Lens as sporting director a month later.

John Murtough led a major structural overhaul at United, hiring Andy O’Boyle as assistant director of football, Steve Brown as head of recruitment and Dominic Jordan, head of data analytics. Matt Hargreaves replaced Matt Judge as Director of Football Deals this summer.

Darren Fletcher is appointed as United’s technical director, while Murtough also takes on the role of sporting director. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is already putting plans into place for personnel changes if his takeover bid becomes fruitful.

It remains to be seen about a possible U-turn for Sheikh Jassim who has since withdrawn from the takeover process unofficially.