Sir Jim Ratcliffe may be a Manchester United fan, but his primary reason for being at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night wasn’t to support the team: it was to gather information on his investment.
Ratcliffe was sat stony faced in the stands at Chelsea – a club he also tried to buy – alongside his close confidant Sir Dave Brailsford and Peter Schmeichel – a timely reminder of the club's former glories – as his United side somehow conspired to throw away three points. United had come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, yet conceded twice in the final few minutes to lose 4-3.
Having conceded in the 99th minute to draw at Brentford on Saturday, United went one worse, shipping two goals in the 100th and 101st minute at Chelsea. First Diogo Dalot brought down Noni Madueke to give Cole Palmer a second penalty of the day, then the entire defence fell asleep to allow Palmer to smash in from a quickly-taken corner.
That is five points dropped in a few minutes and it leaves United sixth, 11 points adrift of the top four, with an embarrassing goal difference of -1 after their 12th league defeat of the season. The next game? Against league leaders Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday.
It’s not looking good and, if there was any doubt left about the future of Erik ten Hag, it has now been cleared up: he’s toast. Ratcliffe and his INEOS colleagues have been making moves since getting their foot in the door, hiring Omar Berrada while chasing Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox.
There have been reports of their interest in Gareth Southgate and Gary O’Neil as the new leadership group plots a path forwards. On the one hand, Ratcliffe is a United fan. On the other he is a cold-blooded petrochemicals billionaire who has spent £1.3billion and is looking for a return on that investment.
Ten Hag was warned back in October about what to expect from Ratcliffe, who owns a one-third share in the Mercedes Formula 1 team. As Mercedes team principal Tofo Wollf explained: “This is a no bull**** organisation. They are huge in terms of revenue and profit. Decisions are being made quickly – three bullet points on a page and ‘here we go’. With Jim all the bull**** is cut out.”
Thanks for the memories Erik, but you’re out in the summer. As he said himself after the Chelsea loss: “In five days, we dropped five points – that’s unacceptable. The quality of our football is really high, but football is abouts results.” There is little point in pulling the trigger yet, with faint hopes of finishing in the top four gone and eight league games remaining – but while they are getting the hierarchy sorted behind the scenes, you can be sure they are doing the same with the front of house.
Ratcliffe’s words in February are instructive on his approach. “We have to look at the organisation of the club, because it is not good at the moment,” he told Belgian newspaper De Tijd. “Take the head coach, for example: he must report directly to the CEO. That is no longer possible in a modern football organisation.
“We have to ensure that the right people end up in the right positions. Every person in management must be world class. And then it is important to create a positive, supportive, friendly and high-quality environment. That culture was missing before. Only in such an environment can you get the best out of sportsmen. If successful, the results will follow automatically. That's the plan and I believe in it.”
In the past few games, United have done a fine job of proving that Ten Hag is not world class. Ratcliffe simply won’t accept mediocrity in the most important position of all at the helm of his latest investment.
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