United’s Harlequin

It’s time to ring that bell, and the Manero callout to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who’s acquisition of a 27.7% stake in Manchester United February 2024 at the bulldozing cost of 1.2 billion pounds, small change to the knighted one who has been mantled as Britain’s richest man, with an estimated wealth of 20 billion pounds. Sir Jim has been granted total control of operations with the Texas chainsaw butchers the owners the Glaziers continuing to butcher the club with their mega dividend payouts, the callout on a reported 500 million pound debt and rising. The reason? Has to be the Glaziers doesn’t it, coupled with excessive player wages to strip bare for bugger all returns, a scandalous state of affairs.

United are a club in crisis, midtable mediocrity on the cash straps of arguably the biggest incoming revenues in world football, the Barcelona and Real Madrid will contest that, but the calling doorstep at Manchester United since their last English kings of England in 2013, eleven turbulent, soulless years since Sir Alex Ferguson hung up his hairdryer and unclipped the watch on one’s Fergie time. The new incumbent on the block is Ruben Amorin following in the footsteps of six previous managers and two caretakers. United’s constant backing of the failing Ten Hag smacked in the face of anything in the realms of reality with interviews galore on their preferred managers who all run shot shy of the position and turned United down, Ten Hag’s authority at the ritual hangman’s noose was diluted to smatterings of water drops, no tears, but a long road of the sign posted ‘fear’ lies ahead.

Time to parachute into the Ratcliffe’s fields of fire as the heads of INEOS bore fruition in November 2017 with the company’s value soaring through the roof to be twinned with the acquisition of Switzerland’s FC Lausanne, seven times champions, but trophyless since 1999, Ratcliffe promised to return the club to former glories alongside two football academies in Botswana and Namibia for twelve to eighteen year olds to later develop further in Switzerland, the academies never materialised in the desert sands to be Ratcliffe’s best kept secret, but not on this watch. The Ratcliffe promises have not been met. As we move into the depths, the Sir Jim’s resume on the sporting theme has a mixed rating, underwhelming. Since the purchase of Lausanne, the club has fallen short of the Swiss top flight, but did return there for one season (2020-21) and returned to the second tier (2021-22). So why did Ratcliffe mark down Lausanne? From the widened lens it did not seem to be a lucrative proposition, so why? There’s always a reason behind a reason. Ratcliffe the head of the company relocated to Switzerland in 2017 to save the company 450 million pounds in tax, a boot strappings hold on FC Lausanne was part of the gravy, a marriage of convenience, make sure you envelope a get clause.

Sir Jim’s business acumen is a clear field ahead than one’s sporting involvement which is further substantiated with the purchase of the French club Nice in League One in 2019 on the sporting field, the question is why Nice? To infold on the Manero files, another Jim tax evasion was the order of the day with on Jim’s favourite theme, not under the company’s umbrella on this occasion, a settling in Monaco on a 32 minute boat ride to Nice sealed the deal on the tax authorities. So why did the squat on relocation tax evasion hit the grid markings? Ineo was founded in 1998 and was made bankrupt in 2009, Sir Jim always looking for a razor sharp savings approaches the labour government of the day for a 350 million pound tax referral, VAT payments included, the government refused. The company later recovered, restarted, and is back in its origin of London. The company’s main source is in the petrochemical industry (BP) with a further range of portfolios buying undervalued companies at discounted rates and make them profitable. The Ratcliffe sketchings can be found in the narrative written and to the core came with Ratcliffe’s trumpet blowing of a 1 billion pound stadium to replace the dated Old Trafford, true to form Sir Jim is putting the feelers out for the government to foot a large percent of the bill with the stadium being termed as the Wembley of the North to carrot the government cash, that will not transpire on handouts for the cock of the north, Sir Jim or the proposed stadium. Part 2 on Jim the Manchester United Harlequin will feature in the Manero March 2025 edition.

‘The Manero Callouts – Let’s Go’ Out March 2025
On planet badass Manero questions the darts promoter Barry Hearn, titled Barry of Arabia.

Manero Calls Out Manchester United’s Harlequin Sir Jim Ratcliffe and lifts the lid on United’s front man, Part 2.

Manero sounds out the football agent Fabrizio Romano dubbed the ‘Magician Man’.

Next up, the ‘Bond Cliffhanger’, state of the art proposed World Cup Stadium, the FIFA president Infantino and Spectre.