LAST CHRISTMAS they gave him their heart.
But the very next year many Manchester United fans are beginning to believe that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is giving it away.
It is exactly 12 months since Ratcliffe and his Ineos Group announced they were taking control of football operations from the Glazers at Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe made a bold statement following the initial £1.03billion buy-in, which secured a minority 25 per cent stake, but it sounds hollow and even embarrassing right now.
Ratcliffe, a lifelong Red Devils fan from Failsworth, said: “Our shared ambition is clear: We all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football.”
Forget Europe and the world, 13th-placed United celebrated Christmas in the bottom half of the table for the first time in the Premier League era.
All the fans’ hopes and dreams of ending almost a quarter of a century of dissent under the Glazers and bringing back the good old days of Premier League dominance under Sir Alex Ferguson still seem as far away as ever.
Old Trafford booed the players off in Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat to Bournemouth but it is not just the results on the pitch which have caused unrest.
Ratcliffe’s ruthless cost–cutting saw 250 members of staff being axed to save around £45million per year.
On top of that, Ratcliffe also dropped Ferguson, who won a record 13 Premier League titles, from his £2m-a-year global ambassador role in October.
FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS
United great Eric Cantona blasted his ex-former club, when the Frenchman fumed: “It’s totally scandalous. I will thrown them all in a big bag of s**t.”
As public relations disasters go, the down-grading of the legendary Scot’s position — although still a non-executive director — was a belter.
But there have been plenty of them. The latest came after the loss to the Cherries when new boss Ruben Amorim had his post-match press conference delayed by a leaky roof.
It was not a good optic yet there have been few, if any, good looks since United’s announcement of the Ineos takeover on December 24.
Ratcliffe, alongside chief henchman Sir Dave Brailsford, he of “marginal gains” during his time as the head of British Cycling, did at least get to enjoy last season’s 2-1 FA Cup final triumph over noisy neighbours Manchester City.
But that gain really was only marginal at best considering the turbulence around then manager Erik ten Hag before Wembley and the complete 360-degree turn to keep him afterwards.
Just about everybody and his dog had been mentioned as his successor, not least former England chief Gareth Southgate, Graham Potter and Roberto De Zerbi.
Ten Hag himself headed to Ibiza on holiday believing his two–year tenure was over.
Then, having found nobody willing to replace him, Ratcliffe and Brailsford turned up on his Spanish doorstep to say that, after all, he could, after all, keep his job.
Five months later, of course, he was sacked, complete with around £17m in pay–off money the pair had baulked at giving him to go in the first place.
Ratcliffe had battled hard and paid £3m to Newcastle for the transfer of Dan Ashworth as sporting director.
He was supposed to be the top dog of a recruitment drive to bring in only top the best new stars.
But he was gone after just 160 DAYS — just 27 days more than Ashworth had spent on gardening leave while waiting to exit the Toon Army.
Having also brought in Omar Berrada from Manchester City as chief executive and Jason Wilcox as technical director it was decided that too many cooks were spoiling the broth by the time Ashworth was brutally dumped early this month.
Yet Ratcliffe, Brailsford and Ineos are now supping from a poisoned chalice. Old Trafford — even under bright new boss Amorim — is threatening to become as toxic as it ever has been since the Glazers took over in 2005 and dumped £660m of debt on the club.
The hits on Britain’s richest man have just kept on coming with issues over a new stadium and ticket prices.
Ratcliffe said in March he would build a “Wembley of the North” and increase Old Trafford’s capacity to 100,000.
Even with his wealth, he wanted to go cap in hand to the government for Levelling Up money to fund the £2bn-plus project. But he was told swiftly that the taxpayers would not be having it.
The future of the new stadium is due to be decided next summer.
Meanwhile there has been outrage from supporters over members’ ticket prices increasing to £66 and the removal of concessions for kids and pensioners.
That led to demonstrations outside Old Trafford and the first signs of anti-Ratcliffe chants.
Ratcliffe is also considering plans to half the annual £40,000 budget given to the Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association.
United’s defence was that they have to borrow the money after their latest financial results showed the club had eaten into £232.3m of their revolving credit facility by the end of September compared to £35.6m in June.
One MUDSA (Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association) insider said: “The optics would be horrific — it feels like the club has lost touch with its soul.”
Then there was Ratcliffe’s snub to the women’s team in the FA Cup final when they thrashed Tottenham 4-0 in May.
The part-owner opted to stay in the North-West and watch the men’s side lose 1-0 to Arsenal. Ratcliffe claimed: “There’s only so much that you can do. And our focus has been on the men’s team.”
Beating Pep Guardiola’s City under the famous arch ended up a happy occasion.
But United staff were told beforehand they would have to pay for their own food, hotel and transport in a break from tradition.
Senior employees had their corporate credit cards withdrawn and lost the use of chauffeur-driven cars while match-day staff no longer get complimentary lunch boxes for their efforts.
The staff’s Christmas party was also cancelled. Ratcliffe has complained about the facilities at the club’s Carrington HQ with the “mess” of an IT department branded a “disgrace”, while the “dressing rooms of the Under-18s and Under-21s were not much better”.
Amorim also happens to have taken over a mess, too. The day before last December’s Ineos announcement, Ten Hag’s team lost at West Ham to lie in eighth.
Now they are 13th and the £200m spent after keeping on Ten Hag on isn’t helping.
Only Noussair Mazraoui’s arrival from German giants Bayern Munich could be considered worth his £12.8m initial fee. Leny Yoro’s start to his United career, after a £42m move, has been hampered by injury.
The rest — £36.5m for Joshua Zirkzee, £38.5m for Matthijs de Ligt and £42.3m for Manuel Ugarte — is looking like a waste of the money Ratcliffe sees as so precious.
Their presence represents another disaster for Ratcliffe as well as the recruitment team at the end of what has been little short of an annus horribilis.
Oh and Jim, those leaks from the roofs around the ground at Old Trafford still need fixing . . .
