Sir Jim Ratcliffe joked he would sell up to the Qataris. (Image: THE OVERLAP/GETTY)
has jokingly proposed he would sell his shares to Qatar if he didn’t believe he could turn the club around after a tumultuous first year. The kingpin inherited control of football operations from the last February when he paid £1.25billion for a 27.7 per cent stake.
He later injected a further £250m into the club’s infrastructure as part of the deal, which raised his stake to 28.9 per cent. Sir Jim has naturally taken much of the flack for the Glazers’ failures during his ruthless attempts to make United profitable again, which have involved a series of unpopular decisions. On January 26, a video surfaced on social media of fans upset over ticket prices abusing the 72-year-old in his car after the 1-0 win at Fulham.
And Sir Jim has now opened up on how dramatically the sentiment towards him has shifted since he offered supporters hope by arriving as a saviour figure 13 months ago.
In a candid interview with for , he shared the reality of what it’s like to return to Manchester now that he’s being painted as a villain.
“I’m trying to look forward, and ultimately, I think we’ll come out of this difficult period and find ourselves in a much sunnier place. I do,” Sir Jim said.
“I mean, otherwise, I couldn’t deal with what I’m having to deal with at the moment because it’s not very nice.
Qatar rivalled Sir Jim Ratcliffe in the Man Utd takeover race. (Image: Getty)
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“When you go home to Manchester and you’ve got people saying some quite unpleasant things. That’s not very nice. I don’t need that, really, to be honest, at my age.”
Neville then pressed Sir Jim on why he had committed to the project if he wasn’t enjoying the negative attention consuming him since the investment.
He continued: “Because I really like . They’re my boyhood club, and I believe that we can sort it out.
“But if I didn’t believe it, I wouldn’t do it, would I? I’d sell it to the Qataris or something…
Qatari bidder Sheikh Jassim was Sir Jim’s rival in United’s strategic review but dropped out of the race when the Glazer family rejected an offer worth £4.8bn for a full sale.
A document submitted to American authorities later showed that Sheikh Jassim failed to prove he had sufficient finance to complete the deal.
Therefore, Sir Jim’s part-sale was the preferred option, and he has pushed ahead with his INEOS-led rebuild since.
“I think we’ll get there with . is the greatest football club in the world. It’s the world’s favourite football club, and it’s the biggest football club,” the British billionaire told Neville.