The billionaire will be at Old Trafford on Sunday (Picture: Getty Images)
New Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe will attend Old Trafford to watch Erik ten Hag’s side for the first time since buying a 25 per cent stake in the club.
The billionaire Ineos founder completed a £1.3billion deal for a minority stake in the Red Devils on Christmas Eve, also securing control of sporting matters as part of the agreement.
He spent three days meeting staff at all levels of the club last week, including visiting Carrington to spend several hours with manager Ten Hag.
Although United have played three times since the deal was announced – against Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Wigan Athletic – Ratcliffe has yet to attend a match.
Ineos’ director of sport, Sir Dave Brailsford, attended all three matches, while chief executive Jean-Claude Blanc was spotted at both the Villa and Wigan games.
Although Ratcliffe is a lifelong United fan, even watching the club win the Champions League at Camp Nou in 1999, he has kept his distance so far.
But that will change on Sunday, with the Daily Mail reporting that the 61-year-old will be in the director’s box for the first time when Tottenham visit Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe intends to be a far more visible and approachable presence at the club than the Glazer family, who still retain majority ownership despite ceding control of football matters.
Avram Glazer has not attended a United game in almost a year, since February’s Carabao Cup final win over Newcastle at Wembley.
Joel Glazer, meanwhile, has not been spotted at Old Trafford since their Champions League quarter-final defeat to Barcelona some five years ago.
Ratcliffe is keen to be very hands on and involved behind the scenes and has already been talking to senior United staff regularly.
He is expected to attend games on a frequent basis, starting against Tottenham, while Brailsford and Blanc will be virtually ever-present.
Although Ineos’ £1.3bn deal has been given the greenlight by the Glazers, the deal still needs to be ratified by the Premier League – which could take six weeks.
Until then, the new Ineos team cannot take any decisions, which will likely mean a very quiet January transfer window mainly focused on outgoings, before a new recruitment team is put in place well ahead of the summer.