Manchester United Owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe explains Chelsea bid after completing Manchster United takeover

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the new owner of Manchester United, has stated why he was interested in buying Chelsea while also appearing to use the club as an example to warn his new squad.

The billionaire completed the purchase of a minority share in Manchester United this week for more than $1.3 billion. The deal comes after the British investor expressed an interest in owning Chelsea when Roman Abramovich placed them up for sale in 2022.

Todd Boehly, an American, beat him to the transaction, completing a £4.25 billion buyout at Stamford Bridge in May 2022. Ratcliffe has now spoken openly about his interest in Chelsea.

“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,” he told reporters via the Manchester Evening News. “So we’ve always wanted to own a Premier League team, but they don’t come around very frequently, and we had no idea Manchester United would ever be sold. So that’s how we ended up in the Chelsea equation.

Since Boehly’s ownership, Chelsea has not been afraid to spend money on transfers. The total investment in the recent summer transfer window exceeded £1 billion, but the Blues remain in 10th place in the Premier League table.

Ratcliffe was asked if Chelsea had demonstrated how to avoid spending. While not directly condemning Chelsea, the new United owner mentioned mistakes being repeated.

“I don’t want to finish up criticising Chelsea but what I would say is that, in having bought other clubs in Lausanne and Nice, we have made a lot of c***-ups,” he was quoted as saying. “We’ve made some extremely dumb judgements at both of those teams.

“There are many organisations in the world where if you make a mistake, you are shot, so no one ever raises their head above the parapet. But at INEOS, we don’t worry if people make mistakes—just don’t do them again.

“As a result, we’re far less compassionate when they repeat the same error. We’ve made mistakes in football, and I’m glad they happened before we arrived at Manchester United. If we hadn’t, this would have been a far more difficult job for us. Because it is massive and highly exposed.”

Chelsea flag before the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo: Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images))
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