Sir Jim Ratcliffe had promised a promising new era for Manchester United. Over a year later, the club is poised for its lowest Premier League position and poorest domestic campaign since being relegated in 1974, having also laid off a considerable 450 staff members.
Winning the Europa League final next week against Tottenham could shift this narrative, securing Champions League qualification alongside ambitious plans recently unveiled by Ratcliffe and Ineos, his global chemical corporation.
United represents just one segment of a vast sporting empire valued at over £2.2 billion, which previously appeared formidable but is now exhibiting some vulnerabilities.
Here`s a breakdown of the rest of Sir Jim Ratcliffe`s sports portfolio, sport by sport:
Football
Prior to Manchester United, Ratcliffe`s sports investments included Lausanne and Nice.
In 2017, Ineos acquired the Swiss club Lausanne, stating it was part of their ongoing commitment to “investment in youth and community sports” locally. Their promise of “full backing” for manager Fabio Celestini proved short-lived, as the club was relegated just six months later.
During the Ineos ownership, Lausanne has frequently moved between divisions. Currently, however, they are comfortably clear of the relegation zone and are establishing themselves in the Stade de la Tuiliere, their 13,000-seat stadium which opened in 2020.
Two years after the investment in Switzerland, Ineos purchased French club Nice for £89 million. Ratcliffe commented at the time, “We made some errors at Lausanne, but we learn quickly. Those issues have been corrected, and we are already seeing the positive results.”
Ineos began their tenure at Nice with Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira as manager, but he was dismissed after 15 months. Since then, four different full-time managers have been appointed and departed. Franck Haise is currently concluding his first season and is well-placed to surpass Ineos` previous best Ligue 1 finish, which was fifth.
Despite a disappointing Europa League campaign without a win, Nice currently sits fourth in the domestic league standings with one match remaining. They are level on 57 points with two other teams and could potentially drop as low as seventh place. However, securing a home victory against Brest on Saturday would almost certainly guarantee Nice a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds.
Last summer, following their £1.3 billion investment to take control of Manchester United`s “sporting operations,” UEFA regulations required Ineos to place the majority of their shares in Nice into a blind trust.
`So much better without our interference`
Ratcliffe conceded in March:
The best season that Nice has had is this one, where we’ve not been allowed to get involved due to multi-club ownership rules. They’ve been so much better without our interference! Maybe there’s a lesson.
Upon confirming his acquisition of slightly over a quarter of United`s shares from the Glazers, Ratcliffe pledged to restore the Old Trafford club to its former glory, though he cautioned that it would require “two or three seasons.” This timeline now appears optimistic.
The decision to sack Erik ten Hag was arguably overdue, but paying Newcastle £3 million for sporting director Dan Ashworth and then dismissing him just five months later was a costly and embarrassing misstep.
While Ratcliffe has publicly supported manager Ruben Amorim, he has also voiced criticism of specific players.
The ambitious £2 billion plan to construct a 100,000-capacity “New Trafford” stadium, intended as the centerpiece of a large development adjacent to the club`s historic home since 1910, clearly demonstrates Ineos` long-term vision.
Formula One
INEOS became Mercedes’ “principal partner” in a five-year £100 million deal signed in 2020 and by the end of the year had taken a one-third stake.
Back-to-back team championships in their first two years made it eight in a row, Sir Lewis Hamilton winning the drivers’ title in 2020 and only losing out to Max Verstappen on the final lap in 2021.
But that marked the end of Mercedes’ dominance, and Hamilton joined Ferrari ahead of this season.
George Russell remains a title contender even if his car is slower than the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Verstappen’s Red Bull.
With Ineos’ finances under scrutiny, there have been suggestions that Ratcliffe could exit, but team principal Toto Wolff said: “He is one of us three amigos — Mercedes, Jim and I. We are never going to part ways.”
Rugby Union
RATCLIFFE’S Ineos became a “performance partner” of the All Blacks in 2021 on a six-year deal worth £4 million per season — but their involvement could be ending.
New Zealand Rugby launched a legal case alleging a “breach of contract” in February after announcing Ineos had “failed to pay the first instalment of the 2025 sponsorship fee, confirming its decision to exit” the agreement.
This coincided with Ineos admitting it is facing financial challenges due to rising carbon tax levels in Europe, describing chemicals as a “tough industry to be in.”
Ratcliffe expressed frustration in March: “We talked to New Zealand Rugby about the fact that times are tough. We wanted to see if we could find a compromise, which you would have thought as a sponsor of the All Blacks they’d have listened to, but they didn’t want to listen.”
NZ are currently ranked an unacceptable No2 in the world.
Cycling
TEAM SKY had dominated world road cycling under Sir Dave Brailsford with riders including Tour de France winners Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, and Geraint Thomas.
They were rebranded as Team Ineos in 2019, becoming Ineos Grenadiers the following year. The company promised to match or even exceed the team’s £34 million annual budget.
Colombian Egan Bernal won the team’s seventh Tour de France title in the first year of Ineos sponsorship, but there have been no further triumphs in cycling’s most prestigious race since then.
Ineos funds the team with approximately £40 million per year but is reportedly nearing a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with another petrochemicals giant, TotalEnergies.
Sailing
OLYMPIC sailing legend Sir Ben Ainslie and Royal Yacht Squadron Commodore Jamie Sheldon joined Ratcliffe in 2018 to announce the launch of Ineos Team UK and its bid to finally win the America’s Cup.
The crew, which included another Olympic champion Giles Scott, reached the final of the Prada Cup qualifying campaign in 2021 but were outsailed by Italy’s Luna Rossa, who were then comfortably beaten by the holders, Emirates Team New Zealand.
Ineos committed more than £110 million and renamed the team Ineos Britannia before the 2024 edition of the world’s oldest sailing race.
This time, with another Olympic champion Dylan Fletcher joining Ainslie at the helm of the twin-hulled craft, the British boat reached the final in the waters off Barcelona.
However, they again fell short, losing 7-2 to the Kiwi vessel.
In January, Ineos announced a third challenge — but notably without Ainslie’s involvement. Ratcliffe suggested: “Ben wanted to do his own thing and that’s fine.” But Ainslie claims he has the right to be the “Challenger of Record” with access to more information than other contenders.
Ainslie’s team was “astounded” by the Ineos move, adding it “raises significant legal and practical obstacles.”
Athletics
KENYAN superstar Eliud Kipchoge’s successful bid to break the two-hour barrier for the marathon distance in 2019 was funded by Ratcliffe through the Ineos 1:59 Challenge.
Kipchoge covered 26.2 miles in Vienna in 1:59:40.2 — although this was not recognized as an official world record because he was assisted by a series of pace-setters and it was not an open competitive event.
Later, in 2022, Ineos signed an agreement to become a “performance partner” to Kipchoge’s Dutch-based NN Running Team.
Marcus Bellamy