2 months ago
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SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has seen one of his other sporting projects go backwards after switching his focus to Manchester United.
The British billionaire is working to overhaul the Red Devils’ football structure with redeveloping Old Trafford amongst his priorities.
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AlamyHe became co-owner of the club in February after purchasing a minority stake from the Glazers.
However, another team in his Ineos Sport empire has seen their decline in performance accelerate in recent months.
Ratcliffe, who has a net worth of £12.5billion, is hoping to return United to the top of English football after 11 years without a league title.
Part of his overhaul has seen the arrival of Dan Ashworth as sporting director, Omar Berrada joining from rivals Manchester City as chief executive and the appointment of Jason Wilcox as technical director.
Meanwhile, he hopes to turn the club’s home stadium into the “Wembley of the North”, with plans to demolish and rebuild Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe has even hired the architects behind the Lusail Stadium, which hosted the 2022 World Cup final, for the project.
A first set of pictures of the potential new Old Trafford site were revealed this week.
His cycling team, Ineos Grenadiers, are going in the opposite direction, though.
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Ratcliffe purchased the outfit in 2019 after they had won the Tour de France six times in seven years as Team Sky.
Those victories were followed by a seventh under Ineos’ ownership later that year to become the most successful team in Tour de France history.
What we know about the 'new' Old Trafford
MANCHESTER UNITED plan to build a new stadium rather than redevelop Old Trafford.
The decision was made after a number of fact-finding missions to other stadiums including the Bernabeu and Nou Camp.
The cost of the project is expected to be a staggering £2billion.
A capacity of 100,000 is expected.
It is felt that a club of United’s standing should have a new state-of-the-art facility.
The new stadium will be built on land adjacent to the Red Devils’ current home.
United are looking to not only build a stadium but regenerate the area of Trafford where the ground will stand.
There had been plans to KEEP Old Trafford rather than demolish it, and use it as a scaled down second venue.
However, it’s looking increasing likely that it will in fact be entirely demolished.
The club consulted with 30,000 fans about what to do and believe there is roughly a 50-50 split on staying or moving.
The club have appointed the architects Foster + Partners to come up with a “masterplan”. The company were behind Wembley Stadium.
Old Trafford has been United’s home since 1910.
The target is for completion by 2030.
Team principal Sir Dave Brailsford has since become a key figure in Ineos’ sporting empire, which also includes the Mercedes F1 team, America’s Cup challengers Ineos Brittania and football clubs Nice and Lausanne-Sport.
However, he has stepped away from the cycling team he originally founded to help rebuild United alongside chief executive of Ineos Sport Jean-Claude Blanc.
As a result, the Grenadiers’ downfall has accelerated, having not competed for a yellow jersey in each of the five Le Tours since their last victory.
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PAMeanwhile, their 30 riders have picked up just 14 race wins in 2024, less than this year’s Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar has on his own with 21.
His team, UAE Emirates, have won 72 altogether, with The Times reporting the best riders no longer want to join Ineos Grenadiers.
This is shown by Brailsford’s failure to lure Pogacar away from UAE Emirates before he left the cycling team to become Ineos’ director of sport.
As Pogacar claimed his third yellow jersey in four years this summer, Ineos’ best performer Carlos Rodriguez was back in seventh.
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