Stan Collymore believes it could take four years for Jim Ratcliffe to put Manchester United back on top of the Premier League. The Failsworth-born billionaire is expected to have his £1.4billion bid for a quarter share of the club ratified at a board meeting tomorrow.
His massive investment is expected to give him control of footballing operations with the Glazer family happy to take a backseat.
Collymore believes Ratcliffe’s arrival will see massive upheaval and predicted he need to overhaul the senior management at Old Trafford. But he has warned it will be “no quick fix” with United possibly having to wait until towards the end of the decade for a first title since 2013.
“I think it will take around three or four years before United are successful again and are ready to win the Premier League title,” Collymore told Lord Ping. “The most important thing for Manchester United is to have someone at the football club who is a leader and a winner and that is what Jim Ratcliffe is. He is the most important Manchester United signing in over a decade.”
Ratcliffe’s long term aim is to gain a majority shareholding in the club and his quarter share is the first step towards that. And those close to the Ineos billionaire suggest he is not about to rip up the football structure immediately.
Collymore believes root and branch change is needed though and insisted that a new CEO replacing Richard Arnold would be a good place to start.
“I think that Manchester United need to change everything from top to bottom regarding their football operations,” he said. “They need to appoint an aggressive CEO that is a good communicator. I think that is an area where Richard Arnold has been found wanting.
“The senior leadership on the football side needs to be completely overhauled. I always look at clubs like Brentford and Brighton as two fantastic examples of how to structure a football club. They have a clear vision in terms of recruitment, tactics and philosophy.
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“I’ve spoken to Lee Dykes, Brentford’s Technical Director, he is a name that has been linked with Manchester United who knows the leagues upside down and is a real straight talker.
“Jim Ratcliffe needs to come in and use some of his INEOS expertise, putting in place a structure with levels of accountability. You need all the levels within the structure of your club completely aligned but it won’t be an instant fix.”
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