Ratcliffe and the Glazers: Man United owners will meet with Carrick | OneFootball

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set for “face-to-face talks” with the Glazer family in the wake of INEOS’s bombshell decision to sack Ruben Amorim as Manchester United head coach last week, a new report reveals.

Face to Face Talks

The Athletic reveals the British billionaire is flying to Manchester to meet with Joel and Avram Glazer, the two leading members of the American family who retain majority ownership of the Red Devils.

https://twitter.com/lauriewhitwell/status/2011742451934044648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Tweet: “Sir Jim Ratcliffe flies in to Manchester to meet with Joel + Avram Glazer. Co-owners due to attend Carrington for exec committee meeting at turbulent period. First time Glazers at new main building. Chance to speak to Michael Carrick.”

United’s hierarchy, including Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, will also be in attendance as the club’s rulers convene for the first executive committee since Amorim’s departure.

The report states these meetings are usually held in Monaco, Ratcliffe’s permanent residence, but has been moved to Carrington to “avoid upheaval for United’s football leadership team in this turbulent time.

“The ExCo meetings typically take place every month, featuring members of the club’s hierarchy and football directors, but this one takes on added importance given the sense of turmoil at United in the wake of Amorim’s sudden departure.”

The meeting will be the first time the Glazer brothers have visited the new main building at the club’s training ground, which cost £50 million to complete and was funded entirely by Ratcliffe.

It will also give the chance for Ratcliffe and the Glazers to speak directly to Michael Carrick and his new coaching staff after it was confirmed the former midfielder had returned to Old Trafford as caretaker until the end of the season.

Interim for Amorim

The decision to bring an end to Amorim’s tumultuous tenure, after 14 months of steadfast support, is INEOS’s boldest choice yet in a long line since taking control of the football operation in February 2024.

United’s leaders have consistently disproven the notion that fortune favours the brave in this time, however, with the club arguably in a worse state on the pitch than at the point the ownership changed hands.

Improvements have definitely come off the pitch, as demonstrated by the venue for the ExCo meeting, but these have come alongside a range of brutal cost-cutting measures across the non-football side of the club.

Popularity is at an all-time low for INEOS and, by extension, Ratcliffe, with the 1958 group organising a protest ahead of the Fulham match at Old Trafford on February 1. They are “aiming scrutiny on the Glazer-Ratcliffe ownership, chief executive Omar Berrada, and director of football Jason Wilcox,” The Athletic reports. 

The fact that a training ground kit partner will also be a topic in the ExCo meeting, with United yet to agree a new shirt sleeve sponsor, illustrates why United fans are so aggrieved by the direction their club is being led.

“The subject of United’s commercial situation is also due to be discussed, with the club yet to agree a training ground kit partner, potentially worth £20m per year, and not yet close to sorting a replacement for shirt sleeve sponsor, with their DXC agreement ending this summer.”

There is positive sentiment at Carrick’s return amongst the fanbase, with logic in the decision to go with him over Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer. But there’s also a sense that hiring an ex-player was driven as much by a desire to get the fans onside as it was by the belief he was the right man for the job.

United are a business under their billionaire owners, however, and PR dictates life in the corporate world.

Featured image Michael Steele via Getty Images

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