'Old Trafford Waterfall' – Sir Jim Ratcliffe leaves room for stitches with a gag over Manchester United roof leaks
Sir Jim Ratcliffe saw the funny side of Old Trafford's leaky roof when he said they have “the third highest waterfall in Britain”.
The owner of INEOS bought a 25 percent stake in manchester united earlier this year and immediately took control of the club's sporting affairs.
This includes overseeing the club's transfer business, as well as managing all football operations, including the future of Erik ten Hagwho will continue as coach next year.
Despite admitting to having found “Many unpleasant surprises” Since walking through the door at Man United, Ratcliffe is determined to help the club return to its former glory as he aims to compete with the biggest teams in the world once again.
In addition to hoping to fight against Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal In the Premier League, Ratcliffe has his sights set on real Madrid.
For years, Manchester United and Real Madrid were seen as the biggest clubs in world football, both on and off the field, but Ratcliffe has laid bare the work the Red Devils have to do to once again catch up with the Spanish giants.
Speaking in the The times At the CEO summit, Ratcliffe said: “Since the day we Mr Alex Ferguson and David Gill retired 11 seasons ago and if you compare Manchester United to Real Madrid, who have always performed well, they are consistently performing where Manchester United should be today.
“The net spend on players – and what I mean by net spend is the money we have spent on players and the money we have got back on players – is that Man United is £1.1bn and, surprisingly, Real Madrid is of £200 million.
“We have some really good players at Manchester United and some really good young players, but let's be frank, if you look at the Real Madrid team and the Manchester United team: Real Madrid have seven players valued at over £100m. , If you see Transfer market.
“Man United have no players worth more than £70-£80m.
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“With the £900 million that Real Madrid is better than Manchester United they have built the best football ground in the world, the new Bernabéu, which is absolutely spectacular.
“In 11 seasons they have a better team and they managed to build the Bernabéu while we have a land that, you know, that headline said had the third highest waterfall in Britain.”
Ratcliffe's frank assessment left the room in stitches when he referenced the leaky roof he's seen Water cascading between the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and the East Stand on several occasions.
Cristiano Ronaldo famously illustrated Manchester United's lack of investment in an interview with Piers Morgan uncensored at the end of 2022, saying that “nothing changed” in the 12 years between his first and second spell at the club.
Restoring Man United's facilities and reputation to a world-class level will take a lot of time and money, but that will not deter the owner of INEOS, with Ratcliffe describing his investment in Manchester United as “a labor of love”.
He explained: “The thing behind this is that nobody, particularly me, likes to lose money. So you invest in something and it goes down in value.
“I don't think the investment I've made in Manchester United will ever lose money, but I also have no interest in selling it, so I'm not interested in making money, if that makes sense.
“It's a labor of love, really.”
