Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford impress Manchester United staff with “straight-talking” and “ambition” in first meeting – Man United News And Transfer News

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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has told staff at Manchester United that he has no interest in making a profit at the club and only wants to see the team return to the top of English and European football, striking a huge difference to the Glazer regime.

This is according to The Athletic who have reported on Sir Jim’s first meeting with staff. The new co-owner was joined on stage by new board member, Sir Dave Brailsford, who has been charged with carrying out an audit on the ongoings at the Mancunian side.

“The British billionaire addressed an audience of employees in an Old Trafford lounge at an all-hands meeting on Thursday and drew applause for what sources, speaking to The Athletic on the condition of anonymity, describe as ‘straight-talking’ and ‘honesty’ about the issues that have dogged the club for years”.

Brailsford did most of the speaking as two of the most key members of INEOS’ sports department outlined what has been going wrong at the club for the previous number of years. “Ratcliffe’s blunt appraisal of United’s sporting performance since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement cut in sharp contrast to the type of rhetoric previously used by members of the club’s hierarchy and was warmly welcomed by those listening”.´

Contrastingly, it was relayed by The Peoples Person recently that staff were left largely unimpressed by previous CEO, Richard Arnold’s video meeting with workers, who got the sense that football wasn’t even his first priority when the wall behind him was adorned with rugby memorabilia.

To make matters worse, Joel Glazer hasn’t even spoken to the staff en masse since his family’s takeover in 2005.

Sir Jim reportedly claimed that the team has been failing for over a decade and that INEOS want to create an “elite” environment to give the side every chance of succeeding. This can be seen in the petrochemicals company already bringing in the highly experienced Jean-Claude Blanc onto the board and attempting to hire huge names in the football director world such as Dan Ashworth and Paul Mitchell.

The INEOS owner insisted that the only way the club can succeed is if they fix what is clearly broken as clubs with similar or worse budgets routinely outperform the club at home and abroad. Consequently, workers were believed to be “invigorated” after the new owners’ bluntness after hearing years of scarcely believable spin about “chasing down” Manchester City.

Ratcliffe acknowledged that there had been significant commercial success at the club under the old regime but, in a “liberating decree”, claimed that he and the new owners would only be judging success based on silverware and what occurs on the pitch.

The two INEOS men spoke of their plans to improve Old Trafford and Carrington and once again, staff were supposedly left impressed by “the scale of ambition and appreciation of the current reality”.

Employees present were also said to have felt that Ratcliffe and Brailsford “are applying pressure to perform, but also encouraging people to be part of the change”.

Someone who will hope to be part of that change is current manager, Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman used his pre-match press conference to boldly assert that he had a “very positive” meeting with the new owners where for “many hours we sit together, many issues we were on the same page. Was a very constructive meeting, we look forward to working with each other”.

In another welcome change, “Ratcliffe, Brailsford, Jean-Claude Blanc, and Rob Nevin, the INEOS team on United, pledged to be present at the club” which stands in contrast to the Glazers operating out of Washington DC and Tampa, Florida.

Finally, Sir Jim claimed he would have to wait until next month to get into more detail as INEOS await ratification of the deal by the Premier League.

Nonetheless, this will be music to United fans’ ears and the new owners are already going to great lengths to separate themselves from the previous owners. However, fans of this great club have been hurt too many times over recent years and will most likely remind INEOS that the proof is in the pudding of their actions.

Finance experts have made it exceptionally clear that a rebuild of Old Trafford is by far the best and most productive way of improving the stadium. What happens in this situation will be a fascinating example of how far INEOS are willing to go to truly fix the club.