Greenpeace, an independent global campaigning network, have urged the Glazers not to accept a bid from Sir Jim Ratcliffe amid his interest in buying Manchester United.
It was confirmed on Tuesday that Ratcliffe, who is one of the richest people in the world, has entered the bidding race to purchase the club. The 70-year-old initially expressed interest in buying United last year after a failed attempt to buy Chelsea.
Ratcliffe, who is a boyhood United supporter, is the first prospective buyer to publicly confirm his interest in buying the club, following the Glazers' decision to put the Reds up for sale back in November. It is understood that they will seek as much as £5billion to sell up and cut ties with United.
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Ratcliffe, who bought French club OCG Nice back in 2019, is the owner of chemical giant Ineos, who were, as of 2021, the fourth largest chemical company in the world. However, such is the nature of Ineos' work, Greenpeace have slammed the prospect of Ratcliffe purchasing United, suggesting that it could risk tarnishing the club's reputation as one of sport's biggest franchises.
"Accepting this bid would be an awful own goal for Manchester United, a Greenpeace UK spokesperson said, as quoted by the Mirror. "Petrochemicals giant INEOS is just the latest fossil fuel company trying to use a popular sport to distract from their climate-wrecking business.
"With interests in oil and gas, plastics and agrichemicals, INEOS has a hat-trick of environmental harms to its name. They are top of the table for plastic production in the UK and are one of the loudest voices in favour of fracking.
"Manchester United should really question whether polluting their image and enabling blatant sportswashing is really worth the dirty money they would get."
Confirmation of Ratcliffe's interest in purchasing United has been welcomed by the club's supporters trust [MUST].
"We do welcome the interest of Sir Jim Ratcliffe," Chris Rumfitt, a member of MUST, told Sky Sports News earlier this week. "What I would say is that we judge every bid by its merits. We welcome his interest and we want to see the nature of his proposal.
"For any bidder, we want to be sure that there won't be any more debt-laden on the club, we want to be reassured that they have a plan to take United back to the top and we want to be reassured that they plan to work in partnership with the fans."
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