Simon Jordan believes Sir Jim Ratcliffe is making the right first impression with the INEOS chief making sure to connect with the fanbase at Premier League giants Manchester United.
Less than a month after his 25 per cent stake in the Old Trafford outfit was confirmed – talk about an early Christmas present – Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made more of an effort to get the supporters onside than Joel and Avram Glazer have mustered in nearly 20 years.
The sight of a Manchester United co-owner sitting around a table with an influential fan group? No, this was not some sort of fever dream brought on by the plummeting temperatures and that final bottle of festive advocaat.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe making great first impression
“I never thought it was clever that the Glazers didn’t engage with the supporters,” Simon Jordan, the former Crystal Palace chairman who knows a thing or two about running a Premier League club, tells talkSPORT (17 January, 12pm).
“If you’re Ratcliffe, and you’ve got the level of common sense and business nous that he’s got, he’s going to look at the challenge and think ‘where do we create a different feel?’.
“Well, do something different.
“(Ratcliffe will be saying) ‘If you (the Glazers) haven’t engaged with fans – and its a matter of fact that you haven’t – then I am going to make sure that influential voices in the fanbases are being communicated with.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s common sense.”
Changes afoot at Manchester United
Ratcliffe has certainly wasted little time in putting his stamp on things at Old Trafford. A ‘Glazer puppet’, as some Qatari-flag-waving social media users alleged, he most certainly isn’t.
The Greater Manchester-born billionaire, during talks this week with MUST (the Manchester United Supporters Trust), was keen to make it clear that his ambition is to return the Red Devils to former glories, not lining his pockets. Again, a stark contrast to the approach favoured by a family of Floridian boogeymen.
Ratcliffe has already added Sir Dave Brailsford to the Manchester United board too. Ditto Jean-Claude Blanc, an elite operator at the top level of European football.
According to The Athletic, the focus will soon turn to bringing in something United have lacked. Not just recently, but throughout the entirety of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. A world-leading, top of the range director of football.
Ratcliffe was in the Old Trafford stands for the first time on Sunday too, sitting alongside Ferguson during the 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
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