Manchester United gave their fans a rather unique Christmas gift in the form of an announcement that British billionaire and INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe had purchased 25% of the ownership stake at the club.
The childhood Red Devils fan has been fighting for a chance to acquire some control at the club for over a year since the Glazer Family announced that they would be open to selling their ownership at the club.
That led to a frantic battle for control, with Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani at one point looking to be set to acquire complete control over the cub.
However, despite his rumoured £5 billion offer for 100% control of Manchester United, the Glazers refused to sell their entire stake.
Instead, they prioritized Sir Jim – who would overtake a percentage stake and also assume responsibility for control all footballing decisions at the club.
Sir Jim will now make decisions pertaining to the club’s senior men’s and women’s teams as well as the academy level.
That means he or his confidantes will make decisions on the managerial situation, new signings and even setting transfer budgets.
While a lot of fans are pleased that the Glazers have finally given up some control over the club after years of mismanagement, some are not so happy.
Mark Goldbridge, a prominent Manchester United fan and pundit, was left fuming with the timing of the announcement for Sir Jim’s takeover.
He felt that the timing of the announcement was a PR ploy by Sir Jim’s team to avoid criticism or possible backlash from a lot of fans.
In his assessment of the takeover news, Goldbridge said: “These sympathizers or ‘mouthpieces’ on social media, we know who they are, they are championing this as some sort of Christmas present.”
“If this is some sort of Christmas present, why is it being put out there at 4 o’clock on Christmas Eve when it cannot be scrutinized by most of the fans.”
A reason behind Goldbridge’s fiery response to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment news is possibly because he has never really shown much support towards the British billionaire’s bid.
He was almost like a voice for a lot of Manchester United fans who championed a Qatar takeover at Old Trafford, in the hope that it’d transform the club as Manchester City were transformed since the takeover of the UAE group.
The United Stand presenter felt that Sheikh Jassim would bring back ‘seriousness’ at the club, pump in a lot of money to buy new players and transform the state of Old Trafford as well.
However, after it was made rather clear that the Qatari sheikh would not be given any place at the club, Goldbridge has been quite critical and questioned how Jim Ratcliffe could bring any change.
He even questioned reports of Sir Jim’s rumoured proposal of potentially taking control of a majority ownership stake at United by buying out the remainder of the Glazer Family’s shares over the course of the next three years or so.
He had tweeted on that back in October: “If Sir Jim [Ratcliffe] comes out and shows [Manchester] United fans the document that breaks down his full purchase of United over 3 years and the removal of the Glazers then I and many others will take it on board. Until that time we’ve learnt NEVER trust a Glazer-owned United to deliver.”
Going by Goldbridge’s fiery response to the timing of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s takeover announcement, it appears that he’ll continue to criticize the smallest of errors or shortcomings that happen under his tenure – as he continues to champion those supporters who are still fuming that Sheikh Jassim couldn’t replace the Glazer Family as the owners of Manchester United.
