‘I’m not sure he exists’, says Sir Jim Ratcliffe as he claims Glazers ‘NEVER MET’ Sheikh Jassim
SIR JIM RATCLIFFE has joked that Sheikh Jassim doesn’t exist after beating him in the Manchester United takeover battle.
The Ineos chief has purchased 27.7 per cent of the club in a deal worth £1.03billion.
The Qatari banker pulled out of the race after he was unable to agree a full takeover.
Ratcliffe saw his investment in United confirmed on Tuesday and he has now been quizzed on going head-to-head with Jassim.
The British billionaire responded with a cheeky dig at his rival, saying: “Still nobody’s ever seen him, actually.
“The Glazers never met him. He never… I’m not sure he exists.”
Jassim pulled out of the running in October last year as he was unable to match the Glazers £6bn asking price.
There was also complications with buying all of the family’s shares.
Jassim never made a public appearance during his nine months involved in the takeover race.
Delegates represented the Qatari group when they came to Old Trafford for face-to-face talks.
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Ratcliffe struck a deal with the Glazers as he was happy to buy just a minority stake in the club.
He is now in charge of football operations at Man Utd.
Ratcllife is keen to build a new stadium that has already been dubbed the “Wembley of the North“.
On a new ground, he said: “It’s about time someone built a national stadium in the north of England.”
“There is a bias in the UK in terms of where national stadiums have been built – they are all in the south.
“There is a lot of talk about levelling up. HS2 has been cancelled and all that is going to be spent on the rail network in London.
“The people in the north pay their taxes just as the people in the south.
“Why shouldn’t there be a venue in the north of England for England to play at? Why does everyone in the north have to go to the south for the semi-finals of the FA Cup?”
Ratcliffe also refused to rule out a return for Mason Greenwood, saying: “He is a Manchester United footballer and we are in charge of football.
“So the answer is it’s quite clear we have to make a decision.
“There is no decision that’s been made. He’s on loan obviously but he’s not the only one.
“We’ve got one or two footballers that we have to deal with and we have to make a decision on – so we will do that.
“The process will be – understand the facts not the hype and then try and come to a fair decision on the basis of values – which is basically whether he is a good guy or not.
“Could he play sincerely for Manchester United well and would we be comfortable with it and the fans would be comfortable with it?
“I can talk about the principle. The principle is the important one because we will have other issues going forwards.
“You are dealing with young people who have not always been brought up in the best circumstances, who have a lot of money and don’t always have the guidance they should have.
“What we need to do when we have issues like that is to understand the real effects, not the hype.
“Then we need to make a fair decision in the light of the club’s values. That’s what we need to do and that’s how we will deal with it.”
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