The Ineos regime has done many right things at Manchester United since their arrival but following the Glazers as the face of the club was the lowest possible bar to clear for success.
Some of their decisions have been unpopular too, least of all the ticket price increase, especially for children but Sir Jim Ratcliffe has stood by that stance.
Financial stability and intelligence have been the buzzwords for them and they have backed it up, on paper at least, by saving costs and spending whatever is necessary on the men’s first team.
He has now identified an area he wants Man Utd to be the “best in the world” at while aiming a dig at the Glazers at the same time. The fans would agree.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe names area Man Utd sorely lack in
The Ineos chief hasn’t been shy about letting people know that they inherited an absolute mess at Old Trafford and the cleanup job will take time.
Their mantra has been to install capable people in key positions and empower them to shift the culture of a club that had become far too content with mediocrity.
From the architecture to even on-pitch matters like investment in the first team, United lacked any direction and identity.
The executive structure aims to provide just that but in an interview with Andy Mitten for United We Stand magazine (Carried by The Athletic in portion), he has stated his next priority- data analysis.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe said: “We’ve not been good enough at recruitment, you probably agree with that. And until we’re as good as anyone in the world, then it’s not good enough for Manchester United.
“We must have the best recruitment in the world. Data Analysis comes alongside recruitment. It doesn’t really exist here. We’re still in the last century on data analysis here.
“There’s an immense amount of useful data that we can get from data analysis and we’re in the ‘very poor’ bracket with data analysis here. These things don’t happen overnight.
“You can’t just flick a light switch and sort out recruitment. It’s all about people and we need to find the right people.”
Gone are the days when data analytics was just a hipster trend used by smaller clubs to find hidden gems to sell for value later as it’s now being used by every club.
United, apparently, haven’t been doing it very well and Ratcliffe makes no qualms in calling out the mess he inherited in this field too.
Ineos’ damning indictment of the Glazers
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has always maintained a cordial relationship in public with the Glazers, praising them as people and fans of the club but actions matter more than the words.
His assertion that United were “in the last century” on data analytics says more about the American billionaires than any public praise Ratcliffe lavishes on them.
More importantly, there was no need to sugarcoat it because the track record speaks for itself. United’s recruitment has arguably been the biggest problem at the club.
Even though the Glazers have spent none of their own money, net spend has been fairly high which, at any functional club, would have the team in a rosy position.
Instead, United are a mishmash of multiple playing styles and managers and another rebuild could be on the cards next summer.
That is down to a scattergun way of recruitment and data analysis, or the lack of it has contributed to it. With steps taken on the stadium front, executive structure sorted, and more to come, this is the right field to target next.
The new part-owners might be unpopular with fans right now, and rightly so, but in the long run, they seem well-intentioned.
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