Sir Jim Ratcliffe is aiming to knock Manchester City and Liverpool ‘off their perch’ as he plots Manchester United’s path back to the summit of English football.
Ratcliffe’s minority acquisition of the Red Devils has been confirmed and the British billionaire has been placed in charge of football operations at Old Trafford.
Work has already started to restructure the hierarchy, as the club look to bounce back from a disappointing decade since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Manchester United have not won a Premier League title since 2013 and have seen north-west rivals Manchester City and Liverpool compete for the game’s biggest prizes in recent seasons.
Ratcliffe has called those clubs his side’s ‘biggest enemies’ and has outlined his intent to ‘knock them all off their perch’ and reestablish Manchester United as a dominant force in the Premier League.
“When Manchester City played Real Madrid at home and won 4-0 last season [in the Champions League semi-finals], that was the best football I have ever seen. If we can ever get to that point, it would be a great achievement,” Ratcliffe said in an interview with the BBC.
“In the north west we have two neighbours who are really impressive football clubs. I want to knock them all off their perch. We are friends in the sense we’re all in the north west but they are our biggest enemies. They are clearly our biggest competitors in the UK.
“[We are] a long way behind. It’s not going to change tomorrow. People unfortunately need to give us time to get back. It will be two to three seasons. Patience is needed. Spending money lavishly in the summer is not the solution, it is much more complicated than that.”
Asked on the process of recruiting the right people to improve Manchester United, Ratcliffe stressed the club’s rebuild would take time.
“Ultimately the level we want to get Manchester United to is not the level we are at. That takes time. It’s not just about players, it is the whole machine. There are thousands of people in that machine and we need to get that machine working really well.
“We need to be as good as anyone else in the game at recruitment and we haven’t been. FFP [Financial Fair Play] is a new element in football and a really important part of managing a football club well. We will assess how much money we have available and use it well.
“We have to find the best people in the world, ensure they have the right character and personality, and create the right environment for elite sportspeople to be successful. All we’re doing is trying to drive performance on the pitch.”
Article also featured on Manunews.com
