“I don’t like taking reckless risks,” the 70-year-old billionaire told The Times on Sunday, the same day his company officially filed its offer to take control of the “Red Devils”, which the president of the city also covets. Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, and potentially Saudi and American investors.
A roundregarding way of showing everyone that the takeover of MU, which might come close to five billion euros, is akin, according to him, to a reasoned or even reasonable investment.
“For example, I will never jump out of a plane, because then your life depends on how someone else has folded the parachute”, continued in this interview the native of Failsworth, in the suburbs of Manchester, to illustrate his point. “I’m quite cautious, but you only live once and if you want more in life, you have to know how to impose personal challenges on yourself.”
With ski expeditions to the two poles with his children, others sailing in the Arctic Ocean or even the ascent of the Matterhorn in the Alps, this captain of industry with the profile of an adventurer joined the gesture to the speech.
Ratcliffe, whose fortune is estimated at 12.5 billion pounds (14.1 billion EUR) by Forbes magazine, launched in 1998 with “two high school friends” in the creation of Ineos, which has since become a giant. in the petrochemical industry, which he managed to raise the bar following the 2008 financial crisis.
Glazer Reviews
In sport, the businessman is no stranger either since he has owned one of the best cycling teams in the peloton since 2010, the former Sky team which has become Ineos Grenadiers, as well as two football clubs: Nice in Ligue 1, which he would have bought for 110 million euros in 2019, and FC Lausanne in Switzerland.
Ineos is also present in Formula 1, in partnership with Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team, and in sailing, in the America’s Cup.
But it’s Old Trafford, Manchester United’s famous stadium, which has always made his heart beat. He never hid it, any more than he never refrained from saying what he thought of the management of the current owners, the Glazer family, American investors who took over the club in 2005.
“Manchester United have spent crazy sums since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson (in 2013, editor’s note) and it has been bad, to put it mildly. Wickedly bad to be frank”, he criticized as early as 2019 in The Times.
“They got the wrong coaches, they bought wrong and through. They threw the money out the window, on players like Fred for example”, he continued, targeting the Brazilian bought for some 50 million euros. euros at Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018.
“As a business, Manchester United is in a delicate situation. Ineos will never throw money away,” assured Ratcliffe, son of a carpenter and an accountant.
“We want Manchester United to anchor themselves in their glorious past and in their roots in the North West of England. We want to bring Manchester United back to Manchester,” Ineos explained in the press release formalizing its takeover offer, the amount of which was not specified.
Convinced British, Monegasque resident
Ratcliffe, a staunch supporter of Brexit, however, exposes himself to criticism from those who do not fail to recall his domicile in Monaco, even if he retains many properties in England. Among which his favorite pub, the Grenadier, in the very chic London district of Belgravia.
“I did not leave before I reached retirement age,” he has already justified. “In the sun, I can hope to live a little longer.”
The biting cold did not always bother him, however, especially the one he faced during his polar expeditions in 2011 and which he ranks among “the hardest experiences of (his) life”.
“In life, there are ups and downs. There can’t be only ups and you appreciate them all the better because you have faced a few downs before,” he concluded.
