- Sir Jim Ratcliffe met the media in an informal gathering at Old Trafford
- The Tottenham match is the first he has attended since his partial takeover
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe described investing in Manchester United as the most exciting thing he has ever done as the Ineos billionaire attended his first game at Old Trafford since purchasing 25 per cent of his boyhood club.
Ratcliffe joked that he hopes ‘we don’t find anything dodgy’ as he waits for his £1.3bn investment to be ratified sometime in February.
Speaking at an informal get-together with the media before United face Tottenham on Sunday, Ratcliffe said: ‘It’s the first match for me since we got here.
‘I am very excited to be here, but I can’t answer any questions really.. It’s a big match. We normally do well against Spurs.’
Sir Jim Ratcliffe spoke with the media for the first time ahead of his first match since his partial takeover of Manchester United
INEOS billionaire Ratcliffe said he was ‘excited’ to be involved with the club he supported as a child
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Asked if this is the most exciting thing he has ever done, the 71-year-old added: ‘Correct. Yes. I have done a few exciting things but there is no question. It’s taken a few turns, as you know, but these things take some doing. (It will be completed) early to mid-February. Hopefully we don’t find anything dodgy!’
Failsworth-born Ratcliffe said that he last came to Old Trafford ‘two or three years ago’ and was asked when he first visited the club.
‘When I was a kid. Quite young. Ten or something, it is 60 years ago,’ he said, adding that his favourite players are ‘(Paul) Scholes, Eric (Cantona) probably’.
‘I can’t come all the time because I have some other things. But I will come,’ said Ratcliffe who declined to comment on his first impressions of the club and his influence in the January transfer window.
Ratcliffe and his sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford met manager Erik ten Hag and some of the players at Carrington earlier this month but has yet to be introduced to all the squad.
‘I have met Erik but (that would be) inappropriate until it is all formalised,’ he said.
