Sir Jim Ratcliffe has said he would leave Manchester United if he was abused as much as the Glazer family.
The billionaire Ineos owner bought a 28.94 per cent stake in United from the Glazers a year ago and has complete control over the football operation, but in the past week there have been mass protests by fans against the Florida-based family and criticism of Ratcliffe himself.
United currently sit 14th in the Premier League while Ratcliffe’s cost-cutting measures at the club, which include 450 redundancies, has resulted in a backlash from supporters. Ratcliffe this week said those cuts were necessary to stabilise finances as the club would have gone “bust by Christmas” this year without them.
“I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make at the moment,” Ratcliffe told The Times. “If I draw a bit of the ire, I can put up with that. But I’m no different to the average person. It’s not nice, particularly for friends and family.
“So, eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, ‘Look, enough’s enough guys, let somebody else do this’.”
The Glazers rarely attend United matches now because of the criticism they receive from fans but Ratcliffe is hoping it does not get to that stage for him.
In January, Ratcliffe was confronted by fans after United’s 1-0 win at Fulham as the window of his car was wound down, with one person heard saying: “Worse than the Glazers, mate.”
He currently attends matches without security and said he has not yet experienced “threatening behaviour”, but if it did get to that level he would reevaluate his involvement with the club.
“It would defeat the object, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t tolerate it at that level, it just wouldn’t be fun,” he added.
