What is on Ratcliffe and INEOS’ to-do list at Man United?

After months of negotiations, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe (chairman and CEO of chemical company INEOS) has finally completed a deal to acquire a 25% stake in Manchester United for around £1.25 billion ($1.6bn).

Sources told ESPN’s Rob Dawson that the deal will give Ratcliffe some influence over the football side of the business, with Sir Dave Brailsford, director of sport at INEOS, expected to be heavily involved. But United’s unpopular American owners, the Glazer family, will keep their majority shareholding after they rejected bids for a full takeover worth around £5bn from both Ratcliffe and Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

Sources added that Ratcliffe is ready to invest funds to improve both the Old Trafford stadium and Carrington training ground, but what should the focus be now the paperwork has been signed?

In a 25-year career, ESPN’s Tor-Kristian Karlsen has worked at a number of clubs in a variety of countries including England, Germany, Russia, France, Israel and Norway — in roles such as chief executive, sporting director, chief scout — and is well qualified to answer that question. So here’s his to-do list for Ratcliffe and the United hierarchy.

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Make structural changes

The most obvious place to start an overhaul of a club is at the top. With the club’s CEO Richard Arnold leaving and lawyer Patrick Stewart taking control in the interim, United have already begun the search for a permanent replacement. More crucially, a sporting director is required. Though United already employ a football director (John Murtough) and technical director (Darren Fletcher), it’s debatable how much faith the club really have in these roles given the power that manager Erik ten Hag exerts in the transfer market and the scarce media presence of both Murtough and Fletcher. Indeed, the positions seem not to be given the same mandates as at other comparable clubs across Europe.

While United went to great lengths to explain the roles upon their hiring in March 2021, it doesn’t fit with the continental-style sporting director who reports directly to the CEO, the board or the owner. For the sporting director role to work, they should be positioned between the board (CEO) and the head coach with a strong enough mandate to take proper charge of footballing strategy.

One challenge in hiring the right sporting director is that there are few viable candidates with the experience of driving a project of this magnitude. Candidates with a good track record in the transfer market are typically scrutinised (and often promoted by the media), yet other skills beyond scouting and recruitment — such as leadership qualities, dealing with pressure, media skills, and personality — are arguably as crucial at a club like United. These, though, are often harder to analyse from outside, which can make for an intricate and lengthy search process.

What seems clear in United’s case, however, is that personal skills and strategic thinking are a prerequisite. With an experienced head of recruitment left to the transfer side of things (the current chief scout is Steve Brown) the sporting director could focus on running the vast sporting operation, from academy to the first team, and provide Ten Hag with much-needed support when it comes to representing the club in the media.

While easier said than done — and it will take years to see in full flow — an overriding philosophy led by the sporting director, which aligns the thinking from youth players to first team, is essential for a top club.

Designing a “United Way 2.0” that is resolutely focused on the future is vital for a club that seems overly nostalgic and consumed by its own past. Though United’s history and traditions are a huge part of its DNA and should be respected and celebrated, constant comparison and harking back can pile on unwanted pressure and even stifle vital dynamism and agility.

United have been almost tethered to the idea of finding an all-encompassing manager in the style of Ferguson since 2013 — David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho among the failures — while the appointments of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Murtough and Fletcher are examples of a club that doesn’t look far beyond its own ranks. The recruitment of staff who have experience outside of Manchester United is healthy and could certainly help to stimulate fresh thinking and ideas.