Sir Jim Ratcliffe history could be repeating amid latest Man United takeover comments

Sir Jim Ratcliffe opened up on his Manchester United bid this week and claimed that himself and INEOS are still ‘in the process’ to buy the club.

The British billionaire announced his intention to buy the club in February, around the same time that rival bidder Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani entered the race as well.

Since then, numerous bids have come in from both parties and Ratcliffe’s offer has been adjusted to keep the Glazer family at United as minority stakeholders for a number of years before he purchases their remaining shares. This decision has caused scrutiny for the Englishman’s bid.

Various reports have come out in recent weeks stating that the Qatari offer is the one in the driving seat after they upped their bid one last time in June. In fact, Bloomberg reporter David Hellier even said that Ratcliffe’s bid was ‘dead in the water’ late last month.

However, Ratcliffe has opened up on the process, as much as he can do after signing a non-disclosure agreement, in recent days.

“We have a good offer and we have met with the Glazers a couple of times,” stated Ratcliffe. “We have had good discussions with them. We would still very much like to do it. And we would be doing it for the right reasons.

“But in the end it is their decision not our decision.”

“Teams don’t come around very often. There are some special teams and the value of them tends to go up.

“The value of teams like this one is very special and rare – like art. I don’t think the world of sport will change that much in ten years.”

However, these comments may present a similar theme to when the Briton attempted to purchase Chelsea in 2022.

Ratcliffe was in the running to purchase the West London club after Roman Abramovic exited, however, he fell to defeat in that instance to Todd Boehly’s consortium.

The British billionaire made his first public statement since the bidding process began, like he has done now, and stated that his team are ‘not giving up’ on purchasing the Premier League club, whose process was also being ran by the Raine Group that are conducting the sale process at Old Trafford.

“We had a communication with Raine and met with them at the end of last week. We presented a bid but have heard very little back from them,” Ratcliffe told the BBC in May 2022.

“My message to Raine is don’t discount our offer. We are British and have great intentions for Chelsea. If I was Raine I wouldn’t close any door.

“We got there at the end of the day and we are committed. We’re not giving up.”

It was a matter of weeks before the deal was complete for Boehly and Co to take over at Stamford Bridge.

Whilst it is not definitive, with various reports suggesting that the race is still an open one, it is interesting to note that Ratcliffe has finally come out publicly, and why he has done.