Manchester United’s fan base have been at odds with their ownership for some time now. However, this era of discontent may soon be coming to an end – here we ask about Man United’s potential new owner who is the 1st man to make a move?

In November, United’s current owners, the Glazer family, stated that they would ‘consider’ selling the club or taking on investment. Enter Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a boyhood Manchester United supporter with billions to throw at the team.

Ratcliffe is one of the richest men if not the richest in the UK, with an estimated net worth of around £12.5 billion. He co-founded Inspec and then went on to form Ineos, which subsequently bought out his old company. Ineos is one of the world’s largest chemical companies, making products such as ethanol, nitric acid and propane.

Manchester United would not be the first club that Ratcliffe has purchased, should a deal be agreed. Ineos also owns OCG Nice which he bought for £88million in 2019 .

Additionally, Ratcliffe was also rumoured to be interested in buying Chelsea when Roman Abramovich left the club but left his bid until too late. While he is known to be a Manchester United fan, he has also had season tickets with the Blues which many suggest are used by his family as he is often in London. Not only this, rumours also circulated in October 2022 of him being interested in buying West Ham United.

The Glazers have been the owners of Manchester United since 2005 having bought the club using a leveraged buy out for £800million. In that time, the Red Devils have won a Champions League, an FA Cup, a League Cup, a Europa League and five Premier League titles. Despite this, they have not won a single trophy since 2017, with large swathes of United supporters feeling it is time for a change at the top. If the Glazers get anything close to the £5 billion fee being mooted then they will make some serious profit.