Three months on from declaring Sir Jim Ratcliffe's interest in ending the Glazer family's occupation of Manchester United, the response on behalf of Failsworth's most famous son now the club is officially for sale was "no comment from us on United".
On October 13, Ratcliffe said at a Financial Times event: "We can’t sit around hoping that one day Manchester United will become available." That day arrived 40 days later.
Ratcliffe will take a long, hard look at United. The head of the Ineos petrochemicals empire is a driven enough billionaire to have bankrollled Eliud Kipchoge's successful effort to run a marathon inside two hours, the Team Sky cycling team have been rebranded as Ineos Grenadiers, Ben Ainslie's neverending quest to win the Americas Cup is supported by Ratcliffe and Nice have risen from mid-table Ligue 1 fodder to Champions League qualifying contenders.
