Manchester United takeover LIVE: Latest news and updates as Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s deal for stake in the club set to be confirmed today

The club have confirmed Sir Jim Ratcliffe has made his 25 per cent investment in the club and have released a statement announcing the landmark news that we will bring you in full shortly.

Mail Sport’s Mike Keegan has revealed that a favourable provision has been added into Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s deal.

Keegan suggests that should the Glazers want to sell their remianing shares then they’ll have to offer them to Ratcliffe and Ineos first.

But would the Glazers ever sell their stake in the club?

Following the announcement that Jim Ratcliffe had taken over Manchester United, Gary Neville has hit out at the club who he called a ‘disgrace to the end’.

Manchester United 2023 has been a disgrace to the end. The timing of this is truly awful and no functioning organisation would even think about it.

‘Anyway all the very best to Jim Radcliffe and I hope he can somehow work out a way to get the club right again and back to being something respectable on and off the pitch.’

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A crucial part of the transaction is that Ratcliffe and his INEOS team will ascertain sporting control of the club, while the Glazers take a backseat in the day-to-day running of Man United.

INEOS accepted the club’s request to take charge of sporting development and will get to work in trying to turn around the club’s dismal recent fortunes.

United stated after making their announcement: ‘INEOS has accepted a request by the Board to be delegated responsibility for the management of the Club’s football operations. This will include all aspects of the men’s and women’s football operations and Academies, alongside two seats on the Manchester United PLC board and the Manchester United Football Club boards.

‘The joint ambition is to create a world-class football operation building on the Club’s many existing strengths, including the successful off-pitch performance that it continues to enjoy.’

With Sir Jim Ratcliffe now part-owner of Manchester United, ratifying his 25 per cent purchase for £1.3billion, fans will now dare to dream of the start of a new era.

The Glazers are, unfortunately for supporters, still in situ for the time being, but in Ratcliffe, who will take control of football operations along with his INEOS team, they now have a fiercely competitive boyhood fan who thrives when the odds are against him.

Ratcliffe has rarely had things easy, spending the first 10 years of his life in a council house on Dunkerley Avenue in Failsworth, a small town between Manchester and Oldham.

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United have revealed that the £1.3bn investment will be completed by Trawlers Limited without any debt. But who is this relatively unheard of company?

The class A and B shares that Ratcliffe is purchasing will be through the company that is solely controlled by the 71-year-old and incorporated under the laws of the Isle of Man.

The company name is a nod to Ratcliffe’s favourite United player, Eric Cantona.

We’ve already covered some of the finer details of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment in Manchester United and have covered the entirety of the deal for you.

Find out everything you need to know about this developing Christmas Eve story below.

The structure of the deal isn’t exactly what you would call straightforward with United and Ratcliffe both having to navigate their way through the complexity of the New York Stock Exchange.

United are a publicly listed company on the NYSE and Ratcliffe’s investment has seen him purchase 25 per cent of Manchester United’s Class B shares and up to 25 per cent of Manchester United’s Class A shares.

He has also pledged a further $300m that is intended to be used to upgrade Old Trafford and the club’s Carrington training complex.

The transaction will be fully funded by Trawlers Limited without any debt and the club’s board of dirctors have approved the offer and recommended that plc shareholders tender their shares in the tender offer and approve the change.

The British billionaire has shared his thoughts after his investment in his boyhood club was confirmed.

Ratcliffe has revealed his plans to take Manchester United back to the ‘top of European and world football’ and covered the reasons why he has purchased part of the club.

Speaking to the club website, Ratcliffe said: ‘As a local boy and a lifelong supporter of the Club, I am very pleased that we have been able to agree a deal with the Manchester United Board that delegates us management responsibility of the football operations of the Club. Whilst the commercial success of the Club has ensured there have always been available funds to win trophies at the highest level, this potential has not been fully unlocked in recent times.

‘We will bring the global knowledge, expertise and talent from the wider INEOS Sport group to help drive further improvement at the Club, while also providing funds intended to enable future investment into Old Trafford.

‘We are here for the long term and recognise that a lot of challenges and hard work lie ahead, which we will approach with rigour, professionalism and passion. We are committed to working with everyone at the Club – the Board, staff, players and fans – to help drive the Club forward.

‘Our shared ambition is clear: we all want to see Manchester United back where we belong, at the very top of English, European and world football.’

Executive Co-Chairmen and Directors, Avram Glazer and Joel Glazer have provided an official update on Ratcliffe’s investment in Man United and admitted they are ‘delighted’ with the deal.

Providing an official comment via the club’s website, the pair said: ‘We are delighted to have agreed this deal with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS. As part of the strategic review we announced in November 2022, we committed to look at a variety of alternatives to help enhance Manchester United, with a focus on delivering success for our men’s, women’s and Academy teams.

‘Sir Jim and INEOS bring a wealth of commercial experience as well as significant financial commitment into the Club. And, through INEOS Sport, Manchester United will have access to seasoned high-performance professionals, experienced in creating and leading elite teams from both inside and outside the game. Manchester United has talented people right across the Club and our desire is to always improve at every level to help bring our great fans more success in the future.’

Mail Sport’s Manchester United correspondent Chris Wheeler has informed us that the club are not commenting on the news Ratcliffe’s investment will be confirmed today, with an announcement expected imminently.

Ratcliffe and his INEOS team will have plenty to get on with when their buy-in is confirmed and one of those jobs could be job cuts at United.

Mail Sport has learned that after reviewing due diligence conducted by INEOS prior to formalising their £1.25billion investment offer Ratcliffe has concluded that United are overstaffed in several areas and that some departments would benefit from restructuring.

United have by far the biggest staff of any club in the Premier League, with over 1100 employees on the payroll at Old Trafford.

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The process for further investment in Man United started in November last year and finally we are at this moment where the Glazers relinquish control of the club, or at least part of it anyway.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £1.25billion buy-out of 25 per cent of United will give him sporting control of the 13-time Premier League champions, but it will take time for him to be approved by the regulatory bodies involved in approving new directors.

As part of the deal, Ratcliffe and his INEOS team will take control of the playing side at United, including player recruitment.

That will officially happen once ratified by the Premier League, a process which could take between six and eight weeks.

It’s strange for such a huge moment in Manchester United’s history to be announced on Christmas Eve when much of the sporting world’s attention will be elsewhere as football stops for a momentary day of rest tomorrow.

Some might argue that the decision to provide the update – that has been public knowledge for months – could have been done to take attention from United’s torrid defeat against West Ham yesterday, while others might argue the timing of announcement is being slipped in when attention is elsewhere.

Whatever the reasoning is, it’s odd that it is being done today. United host Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Boxing Day and this will be another massive talking point that Erik ten Hag has to contend with.

We are still waiting on an official announcement from Old Trafford, but Gary Neville has already commented on the news via his X account.

The Man United legend has been a public critic of the Glazer families ownership of the club and described the timing of today’s update as ‘truly awful’.

Let’s get you up to speed then with the latest developments on the British billionaire’s imminent investment in Manchester United.

Hello, Merry Christmas Eve and welcome to Mail Sport’s breaking news live blog ahead of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment in Manchester United that is set to be confirmed this afternooon.

Let’s get into all the details and reaction ahead of the expected announcement.