admin Sir Jim Ratcliffe will seek to emphasize standards if he invests in Man Utd.
It may not be the redemption every Manchester United fan wants, but there is hope that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s involvement with the club could be a step in the right direction.
The majority of fans won’t be happy until Glazer is no longer involved with Old Trafford, and although they remain in control for now, this could be the necessary first step in getting rid of them once and for all decisively.
Ratcliffe has one foot in the door; now he must open it wide enough to be able to enter and feel at home before closing it tightly to its present holders.
The Glazer family’s dethronement may be a test of Ratcliffe’s takeover plans, but before that he will seek to win over his supporters by raising standards and refocusing his efforts. Pay more attention to football issues than business.
Even if the interests of those at the top do not focus on what happens on the pitch, United are limited in what they can achieve. To overcome this, those in power must set and respect certain standards.
It has previously been suggested that Ratcliffe will look to carry out a thorough review of the current structure and he may also consider appointing a new sporting director to help him.
These would certainly be long overdue steps in the right direction, with the hope that Ratcliffe can come to the club with a fresh and ruthless approach that in no way settles for mediocrity.
If this happens, it could be bad news for some players.Although there have been encouraging signs under the leadership of Erik ten Hag, United is still a team that often acts too emotionally when making team decisions.
There has long been a culture of rewarding players with new contracts at the wrong time and not upgrading them, seemingly reluctant to do so in case they might be useful to them in the future.
Even today there are members of the first team who have virtually no role and could be sold if the club were confident enough to replace them in the transfer market.
Anthony Martial is among those whose contract is out of contract at the end of the season, although the club have the option of extending his deal for another year.
From a business perspective it makes sense to enable this to protect his value, although from a football perspective there is an argument against doing so so he can leave freely there.
United should only extend his contract for another year if they are sure to sell him next summer, a mistake they made with Jesse Lingard by activating another year on him, not using Use it properly and then lose it for free. the next summer.
The takeover could also lead to a more ruthless policy towards the periphery. Harry Maguire and Donny van de Beek are among those clearly out of favor and not in Erik ten Hag’s long-term plans, but they have not been moved on this summer as it becomes increasingly difficult to take advantage of them. is reasonable.
Of course, there is a limit to the number of players a club should look to offload in a single window, but that argument is redundant when there are some who will clearly never get the the opportunity they desire.
Again, these standards come from the top, and Ratcliffe and his team will set an example if he actually goes ahead with his initial 25% investment.
This could be good news for fans and bad news for some players.
