Sir Jim Ratcliffe Officially Confirmed As New Manchester United Co-Owner

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was officially announced as Manchester United's new co-owner on Tuesday night.

The 71-year-old billionaire purchased a 25% stake in the club for around $1.3 billion.

He then invested a further $200 million to take his ownership share to "approximately 27.7%", according to a club statement issued on Tuesday.

Ratcliffe was quoted within that statement as saying: "To become co-owner of Manchester United is a great honour and comes with great responsibility. 

"This marks the completion of the transaction, but just the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football, with world-class facilities for our fans.

"Work to achieve those objectives will accelerate from today."

Although the Glazer family still holds a majority stake in the club, Ratcliffe's INEOS Group have been put in charge of football operations.

Ratcliffe and INEOS will be responsible for overseeing the running of United's men's and women's first teams.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is now in charge of football operations at Manchester United

IMAGO/PA Images/Martin Rickett

Joel Glazer, who is United's executive co-chairman, said: "I would like to welcome Sir Jim as co-owner and look forward to working closely with him and INEOS Sport to deliver a bright future for Manchester United."

Ratcliffe was born in Greater Manchester and has described himself as "a lifelong supporter" of United, despite trying and failing to buy Chelsea from Roman Abramovich last year.

He offered to pay £2.5bn for Chelsea, while also pledging to invest £1.75bn over 10 years, but he was outbid by a consortium led by Todd Boehly.