Greenpeace have urged Manchester United owners, the Glazers, not to accept any bid from Sir Jim Ratcliffe amid concerns that his chemical company, INEOS, is trying again to sportswash its image.
United fan Ratcliffe, whose personal fortune is estimated by Forbes to be around the £11million mark, went public with his interest in buying the club last week.
But the move has prompted outrage among environmentalists, who are convinced INEOS’s links with several sporting institutions is a tactic designed to take attention from the damage they claim the company’s business practices are doing to the planet.
A Greenpeace UK spokesperson said: “Accepting this bid would be an awful own goal for Manchester United. 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.”
INEOS already has interests in football, including its ownership of French team Nice, as well as cycling, rugby union, Formula One and sailing.
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And Ratcliffe has already tried to buy a Premier League football club after bidding for Chelsea last year when Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club following Russia ’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Glazers put United up for sale late last year and have asked New York-based Raine Group, who handled Chelsea’s sale, to oversee the selling the process for them.
The Manchester United Supporters' Trust (MUST) has welcomed Sir Jim Ratcliffe's interest in buying the club - but they want the billionaire to "work in partnership with the fans".
"We do welcome the interest of Sir Jim Ratcliffe," Chris Rumfitt, a member of MUST, told Sky Sports News on Wednesday. "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.
"We're all realistic enough to know that the Premier League is a global hub and a global game and you can see where the owners come from. We're all realistic enough to know that the new owner could come from anywhere.
"That said, most fans of most clubs would love somebody local - a local boy made good - coming back to invest in their club."
