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# Devil's diary: Sir Jim Ratcliffe isn't a very nice man and fans are growing sick of him
- URL: https://www.oldham-owl.co.uk/devils-diary-sir-jim-ratcliffe-isnt-a-very-nice-man-and-fans-are-growing-sick-of-him/
- Published: 2026-09-24T14:34:25.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-24T15:12:08.000Z
- Description: Someone forgot his Werther's Originals and his tartan blanket again
- Author: Teo Karov
- Tags: Sport

This week, United’s very own co-owner came out with some rather interesting comments about Britannia. "We had the greatest empire in the world," sayeth Sir Jim, "we were a great people, we won two world wars’’. Sir Jim was born in October 1952, five years and several months after the end of the second of those wars. 

Sir Jim also criticised immigration, albeit in a more watered-down manner after he was left scampering to apologise for saying that the UK had been "colonised by immigrants" back in February. As a known Brexit backer, it appears that Ratcliffe is passionate about the direction of the country, but there is an uncomfortable irony in United's co-owner lecturing Britain on what has gone wrong from his multimillion-pound home in tax-friendly Monaco.

Those comments have heightened tensions at United, with fans becoming increasingly disillusioned with Ratcliffe and the Glazer family. The Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club (MUMSC) issued a statement of no confidence in the current ownership, saying that “players, staff, stewards, security teams and supporters come from different countries, cultures, ethnicities, religions and backgrounds. Manchester United would not be Manchester United without them.”

Of course, supporters’ disdain for the Glazer family was a thing long before Ratcliffe stepped in, but this is a clear sign that fans are beginning to turn their attention to Ratcliffe. It may not lead to any tangible change for the better, but a well-known X account going by the name of Sully is none the less trying by encouraging fans to boycott the club’s sponsors in an attempt to hit these billionaires in the only real place that would hurt - their pockets. There is precedent. In 2021 United reportedly lost out on a proposed £200m training kit sponsorship deal after similar online boycotts. A protest outside Old Trafford also postponed the game against bitter rivals Liverpool that season.

The speed at which Ratcliffe has managed to burn through the goodwill he arrived with is remarkable. When INEOS first walked through the doors at Old Trafford, there was at least some hope that the arrival of a supposedly competent British billionaire might finally start to loosen the Glazers’ suffocating grip on the club. Two-and-a-half years later, supporters are protesting against him alongside the very family he was supposed to represent a change from.

It isn’t difficult to see why. Around 450 jobs have been cut under the INEOS regime, ticket prices have risen and some of the club’s most loyal supporters have been pushed aside in the pursuit of more and more money. Earlier this year, around 1,100 fans were told they would have to leave their seats in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand as United expanded their hospitality offering. One 76-year-old supporter’s family had sat in the same family seat since 1949\. It’s truly damning that almost eight decades of loyalty still struggles to compete with somebody willing to pay 300 quid for a three-course meal and a padded chair.

### Lazy United

On the pitch, the team salvaged a point away to Fulham through a fortuitous deflection on Matheus Cunha’s shot. Every week I tell myself that United can’t get less enjoyable to watch and every week they manage to prove me wrong. What was most worrying wasn’t the actual quality or the technical ability of the players. It was the lack of intensity. The total unwillingness to put in the hard yards. Sky Sports released a graphic showing that United are dead bottom for distance covered at high intensity, time at high intensity and time sprinting. You can almost excuse players misplacing a few passes or missing chances. There is no excuse for players earning a fortune to not work hard. There is also no excuse for Michael Carrick if he’s telling his players to walk without the ball.

I didn’t think I would be happy to have a three-week international break, but here we are.