Manchester United Owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe explains Chelsea bid after completing Manchster United takeover
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the new owner of Manchester United, has given an explanation for his interest in purchasing Chelsea, but he also seemed to be using the team as a warning to his new side.
This week, the billionaire completed the acquisition of a minority interest in Manchester United in a transaction valued at over $1.3 billion. The transaction occurred after the British investor expressed interest in buying Chelsea after Roman Abramovich listed the team for sale in 2022.
In May 2022, American Todd Boehly completed a £4.25 billion buyout at Stamford Bridge, beating him to the transaction. Ratcliffe has now revealed that Chelsea has caught his attention.
He told reporters [via the Manchester Evening News] that “we have a collection of quite interesting sports clubs, Formula 1, America’s Cup, cycling, etc. but we’ve always recognised that the biggest sport in the world is football and the Premier League is the biggest league in the world.” We’ve always been interested in owning a Premier League team, but these opportunities don’t present itself very frequently, and at the time we had no idea that Manchester United would ever be sold. Thus, in that Chelsea equation, that is how we came to an end.
Ever since Boehly took over, Chelsea hasn’t hesitated to spend big money on transfer fees. The Blues still hold 10th place in the Premier League standings despite spending over £1 billion in the previous summer transfer window.
When it came to spending, Ratcliffe was asked if Chelsea had demonstrated what not to do. The new United owner mentioned mistakes being made again, but he refrained from condemning Chelsea specifically.
He continued, “I don’t want to end up criticising Chelsea, but I would say that we have made a lot of c***-ups in having bought other clubs in Lausanne and Nice.” “We’ve made some incredibly dumb choices in those two teams.
In many organisations across the world, making a mistake might result in being shot, therefore people are afraid to push their heads over the parapet. While mistakes are accepted at INEOS, we ask that you kindly refrain from committing the same mistakes twice.
In light of this, we are far less understanding when they do the same error twice. We’re incredibly happy that we committed those blunders before coming to Manchester United because we have made mistakes in football. This would have been a much harder task for us if we hadn’t. due to its size and extreme exposure.
Before Chelsea FC and Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One encounter at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea flag was flown. (Image sourced from Getty Images by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto))
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