Manchester United announced in an official statement on Sunday that Sir Jim Ratcliffe had acquired 25% of the club's shares from its previous shareholders, the Glazers family.
Negotiations to sell these shares extended for 13 months, after other negotiations were ongoing with Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad, but they were not crowned with success due to the Qatari company’s desire to fully acquire the club, in exchange for the Glazers’ desire to sell only part of their shares.
Ultimately, Ratcliffe and his company Eneos succeeded in reaching an agreement with the Glazers family to buy 25% of the shares for 1.25 billion euros, according to Sky Sports.
This step will be the first step in what is called the “Manchester United Revolution”, as the agreement includes that Sir Ratcliffe will assume the task of completely managing the club sportingly, with all decisions in the football team coming from him and his management.
This was the main demand of United fans in their protests in recent years, when they were demanding that the Glazers family be removed from football, after the massive collapse that the team experienced in the last decade.
According to various media reports, Ratcliffe already intends to invest $300 million in development at the club.
It is noteworthy that Ratcliffe's arrival raises a lot of controversy about the future of Eric ten Hag in his position as coach, after it was reported that the new owner is not convinced of the Dutch coach's abilities.
United are suffering a lot this season at all levels, after being eliminated from the Champions League at the bottom of their group, and suffering many local defeats that led them to eighth place after 18 rounds.
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