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New Manchester United part owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has named the company who have technically bought the club, Trawlers, in honour of his favourite player, Eric Cantona.
Ratcliffe completed the deal to take over 25% of the club on Christmas Eve and his group will take control of the sporting department immediately, even though the deal needs four to six weeks to be ratified by the Premier League.
However, as The Daily Mail states, the British billionaire didn’t use his chemicals company, INEOS, to buy the club but actually the “lifelong” United supporter completed the deal through his company Trawlers Limited.
Trawlers is a company registered under the laws of Isle of Man, and is completely owned by Ratcliffe, after it was set up in October.
However, what is much more of interest to Manchester United fans is the company’s unusual name, which is a reference to the icon and living legend, Eric Cantona.
The “trawlers” name comes from the press conference after the infamous incident where the French player leaped into the crowd and kung-fu kicked a Crystal Palace supporter who had been giving him grief all game long.
When it was announced that the player would serve an eight month ban as punishment for his actions, he gave the confusing and brief response at a press conference, “when the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much”.
Ratcliffe is clearly trying to accentuate the differences between himself and the Glazer family. The Americans have always been seen as indifferent at best to United and this was highlighted by their recent reaction to their NFL team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where they waited and congratulated for every player in the tunnel after a hard-fought victory. They have rarely even attended a game at Old Trafford never mind interact with the squad.
The INEOS owner on the other hand, has consistently publicly stated his love for the club and on Christmas Eve released a statement claiming “as a local boy and a lifelong supporter of the club, I am very pleased that we have been able to agree a deal with the Manchester United board that delegates us management responsibility of the football operations of the club”.
Therefore, even though the name may seem random, there will be very real PR rationale.
The Peoples Person has already relayed information on why Ratcliffe has used this company and not the much bigger and famous INEOS enterprise to purchase the 25% of the club.
What Cantona thinks about this honour is as yet unknown. He recently gave an interview wearing his new hat as a musician and discussing his recently released CD.
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