How Sir Jim Ratcliffe celebrated completing his £1.3b investment of Man United?

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has opened up on the several 'false dawns' he encountered during the drawn out process to complete his minority investment in Manchester United.

Ratcliffe and his INEOS group have paid more than £1.3billion for 27.7 per cent, which will rise to close to 30 per cent following a further £238million injection into the Premier League giants.

The 71-year-old's arrival has given fans a fresh sense of hope after years of frustration aimed at the Glazer family, who had initially been open to selling their full stake in the club.

Ratcliffe went head-to-head with Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim. He eventually withdrew from the process with his offer for a full takeover falling short of the £6bn figure the Glazer family were thought to want to sell the club.

The complex process saw many ups and downs for the British billionaire, who revealed that they had even prematurely toasted their success, believing they had been triumphant all the way back in May.

'How long have you got?' Ratcliffe told Mail Sport when asked if he ever considered walking away from the deal. 'Time and time again. I remember at the Monaco Grand Prix, which was in May, we opened a bottle of very expensive champagne and all celebrated.

'That was in May — but that was a false dawn and we went through several more false dawns after that.

'We had a few surprises on the way. Not at the Glazers’ making. We just kept bumping into problems, particularly with the non-executives on the board.'

Ratcliffe has held a one-third stake in the Mercedes Formula One team since his investment in 2020 and has been a regular attendee at Grand Prix races.

Ratcliffe and Ineos have already made clear that big structural changes will be made behind the scenes.

Omar Berrada