Britain's richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has declared an interest in buying Manchester United, offering hope to the club’s fans that the Glazer family might sell up.
Ratcliffe is a boyhood United fan who made his money by founding chemical powerhouse Ineos. The 69-year-old, who made an offer of £4.25billion to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich earlier this year, is already heavily involved in the sports industry.
The billionaire is the owner of Ligue 1 side Nice, professional cycling team Ineos Grenadiers, Sir Ben Ainslie's sailing team, Ineos Team UK, and is one of the main sponsors of the Mercedes Formula One team.
After being urged into action by ex-United director Michael Knighton, Ratcliffe has now announced his intention to consider the purchase of United, if the Glazers are willing to listen. “If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer,” Ratcliffe’s spokesperson told the Times. “If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership."
Ratcliffe certainly has the funds to back up the claim. According to the Forbes 2022 billionaires list, he is worth around £13.48bn ($16.3bn) – a figure that makes him the 111th richest person in the world.
He didn’t get rich by making rash decisions, however, and he has previously criticised the way United has been run by the Glazer family. "[Ineos] never wants to be the dumb money in town, never, never," Ratcliffe told The Times in 2019. "[United] haven't got the manager selection right, haven't bought well. They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred. We won't look elsewhere until we have had a good run here (at Nice). We need to find out how to be successful before you ever want to write a big cheque. It's quite difficult."
If the Glazers were to sell to Ratcliffe, then were would he rank in terms of the current owners in the Premier League? Using Forbes’ estimates, Ratcliffe would come in third in terms of net worth of Premier League owners – but there are some caveats.
Newcastle are owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, not a single rich individual, while Manchester City ’s owner Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan bin Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, who is better known as Sheikh Mansour, is not on Forbes’ rich lists because he is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. However, there is no doubt he is very rich – with estimates putting him at around £14.6bn.
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has seen his net worth climb recently to around £8.88bn, while Fulham's Shahid Khan, who also owns the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, is worth £6.31bn and Aston Villa’s Egyptian construction magnate Nassef Sawiris is worth around £6.22bn. After snubbing Ratcliffe’s offer, Chelsea were taken over in May by a consortium led by Todd Boehly, who is worth around £3.73bn, according to Forbes.
The Premier League’s top 10 richest owners:
Newcastle United – Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (£320bn)
Manchester City – Sheikh Mansour (£14.6bn)
Arsenal – Stan Kroenke (£8.88bn)
Fulham – Shahid Khan (£6.31bn)
Aston Villa – Nassef Sawiris (£6.22bn)
Crystal Palace – Josh Harris (£4.56bn)
Tottenham – Joe Lewis (£4.31bn)
Manchester United – Glazer family (£3.90bn)
Chelsea – Todd Boehly (£3.73bn)
Wolves – Guo Guangchang (£2.82bn)
