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Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has alleviated concerns that the club will be barred from participating in the Champions League due to his ownership of OGC Nice.
On Tuesday night, United announced that Ratcliffe has completed his partial investment into the club.
The British businessman can now officially start working at Old Trafford and assume full control of the sporting operations.
One issue that came about during the strategic review process and even when Ratcliffe was awaiting ratification of his deal by the Premier League and the FA was his ownership of French outfit Nice.
The INEOS billionaire is the majority shareholder at Nice, who are also chasing Champions League qualification.
Under UEFA rules and guidelines, the same owner or entity are not permitted “decisive influence” in decision-making across two or more clubs.
It’s understood that unless a modification is made to the rules, Ratcliffe is in danger of breaching these regulations.
Under the existing rules, if United and Nice both finished in the Champions League places in the Premier League and Ligue 1 respectively, the team that came higher between the two would be granted admission into the European competition, while the other would be prevented from participating.
A recent report covered by The Peoples Person relayed that INEOS and Ratcliffe are prepared to surrender day-to-day control of Nice in order to direct all their energy towards United.
The thought process behind the move is that relinquishing daily control of Nice would represent a restructuring of the ownership and administration structure such that it would be very different from United.
In a candid interview with reporters, Ratcliffe was asked whether he’s concerned about UEFA rules on multi-club ownership.
He responded, “We’ve spoken to UEFA. There’s no circumstances upon which an ownership of Nice would prevent Manchester United from playing in the Champions League– I’ll be crystal clear on that.”
He added about the current rules, “It says you have to change the ownership structure. So it’s all about influence and positions on the board and that sort of thing.”
“So, (a): the rules are changing, and (b): there are shades of grey, not black and white.”
“Manchester City will probably have the problem before we have the problem because they’ve obviously got Girona who are doing well in the Spanish La Liga.”
United fans will certainly rest easier following Ratcliffe’s admission.
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