SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has indicated he’ll walk away from Manchester United – if he gets as much stick as the Glazers.
The Ineos chief, 72, took over at Old Trafford in February last year and pledged to take United to the “top of world football”.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has indicated he could walk away from Man Utd if fan abuse becomes too much to attend games[/caption]
A section of United fans have protested against the Glazer family for almost a decade[/caption]
Ratcliffe claims the Glazers no longer attend Old Trafford due to the vitriol[/caption]
Ratcliffe has been forced to cut costs since completing his £1.03billion takeover.
Fans have been critical of the 72-year-old’s brutal balancing of the books, which included a swathe of redundancies and the removal of Sir Alex Ferguson as a club ambassador.
Ratcliffe has defended the cuts and last week claimed the club would have “run out of money by Christmas” if he hadn’t stepped in.
He also outlined a positive future for the Red Devils after unveiling a stunning new £2bn, 100,000-seater stadium.
Supporters protested against the ownership ahead of the recent 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford.
And Ratcliffe admits being in the storm of fan unease hasn’t been easy.
He told The Times: “It can be unpleasant.
“And I’ve probably failed on the having fun front. I mean, I can put up with it for a while.
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“I don’t mind being unpopular because I get that nobody likes seeing Manchester United down where they are, and nobody likes the decisions we’re having to make at the moment.”
Ratcliffe claims if the abuse became too much that he couldn’t attend games, he’d walk away.
He continued: “So, eventually, if it reached the extent that the Glazer family have been abused, then I’d have to say, look, enough’s enough guys, let somebody else do this.
“They can’t really come to a match, the Glazers. They’ve retreated into the shadows a bit now, so I’m getting all the bloody stick.
“We bought in and I haven’t seen them since.
“At the moment, I don’t have security, I don’t have to walk around like that.
“But it would defeat the object, wouldn’t it? You couldn’t tolerate it at that level, it just wouldn’t be fun.”
Ratcliffe pulled no punches last week as he took aim at United’s flops, branding some “overpaid” and “not good enough”.
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CAPTAIN Fantastic rescued Manchester United once again – scoring a hat-trick as the Red Devils overcame an early scare to beat Real Sociedad and advance in the Europa League.
He was the coolest man inside Old Trafford twice as he slotted home penalties either side of half-time to put his side in control against the Spaniards.
Joshua Zirkzee was another who impressed as Manchester United secured a tie against Lyon in the quarter-finals.
But it wasn’t all positive.
Rasmus Hojlund drew a blank yet again. That’s now 21 games and no goals – the equivalent of over THIRTY HOURS without the £72m striker hitting the net.
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Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid.
“But for us to mould the squad that we are fully responsible for, and accountable for, will take time.
“We’ve got this period of transformation where we move from the past to the future.
“There are some great players in the squad as we know, the captain is a fabulous footballer.
“We definitely need Bruno Fernandes, he’s a fantastic footballer.”
