We’re a month into the new INEOS and Jim Ratcliffe era at Manchester United and hopes remain high that he can turn things around at Old Trafford. The club has endured a torrid time in the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure and it will be no small task to bring the Red Devils back to the pinnacle of English football. However, that is the burden Ratcliffe and company will have to bear in the coming years as they set about relinquishing the domestic crown from the once noisy neighbours.
The British billionaire has made no bones about his ambition to do just that since acquiring his 25% share of the clubs on Christmas Eve but United fans have been down this road before. Too often have the board promised one thing only to supply another and this time, falling short of a promise is not an outcome the fanbase will accept gladly. After a long 13 months of speculation surrounding a takeover was finally brought to an end it is time to deliver. Will Ratcliffe be the man to do it? Here’s a look at what his first month in the boardroom tells us about his chances.
In terms of results, it couldn’t get much worse. The Premier League campaign has been one of the worst in living memory with an ever growing list of unwanted records being rewritten every other week. The club hadn’t lost four of the opening seven matches in Premier League history until this year, nor had they only earned as few as nine points from the same number of matches at the start of a season since 1989. This term marks the first time since 1992 that United had gone four consecutive matches without scoring a goal as well as the first time since 1979 they had conceded more than two goals in four consecutive league matches. Fans who want to place a bet on United’s top four chances can get free bets on Compare.bet. It’s a similar story in the Champions League with Galatasaray registering their first ever win on English soil in their 117 year history while United lost their first two Champions League group matches for the first time ever. It’s a rut the club can’t seem to shake out of and Ratcliffe’s purchase desperately needs to be the catalyst to stop the sinking ship. Unfortunately though, since the 71-year-old businessman arrived the mixed bag of results has continued. A fantastic 3-2 victory over Aston Villa on Boxing Day saw the team come back from two goals down but it was followed by a lacklustre showing at the Forest Ground in which an out of sorts Nottingham Forest side condemned the Red Devils to their ninth league defeat of the campaign; another unwanted record for this stage of the season. January has provided a little respite with two FA Cup victories and a decent draw at home against Ange Postgecoglou’s resurgent Spurs, but overall the outlook is not good. It will need to drastically improve over the coming months if they are to salvage anything from this season.
As for behind the scenes, it feels like the clock is ticking on the Dutchman’s time in the hot seat. A litany of controversies and fallings out with players have made Ten Hag’s managerial role untenable for many and in serious doubt for most. The difficult relationship with 23-year-old winger Jadon Sancho finally came to a head this month with the England international moving back to Dortmund on loan until the end of the season. The player has been practically ostracised from the squad due to a reported lack of effort in training, of which Sancho himself has very publicly and adamantly denied. It is the latest incident in a list of reported attitude problems within Ten Hag’s squad, the most high-profile of which saw Cristiano Ronaldo unceremoniously depart the club in which he made his name. This combined with a significant drop in form from some of his key players, including club captain Bruno Fernandes, has suspicions mounting that the 53-year-old has lost the dressing room. Rumours of that damning conclusion continue to circulate following some fairly obvious animosity between the manager and star forward Marcus Rashford for his recent antics. The situation is exacerbating with each passing day and now that INEOS and Ratcliffe are in control of footballing operations at the club, push may come to shove if the Dutchman doesn’t improve the mood and start producing results on the pitch.
Overall it is too soon to say whether Ratcliffe will prove to be a success at United but one thing is for certain, his arrival couldn’t have come soon enough. The £1.2 billion deal gives fans a glimmer of hope that something may be on the horizon to improve a very bleak situation. While not much can be done on his part to give the ground some much-needed T.L.C, he can address the many pitfalls in the infrastructure of the club. There is already talk of bringing in a new director to head up recruitment giving rise to theories that United may finally appoint a long-awaited director of football. His meetings at Old Trafford in the first days of the new year seem to be symbolic of a more hands-on approach to fixing the matters at hand. It’s a hugely significant step and with the appropriate structure in place to finally make best use of the hefty transfer funds at the club’s disposal, there is hope yet that Ratcliffe can lift the dark clouds descending on Old Trafford and help the Red Devils turn a corner in the coming years.
