14 January 2024 , 15:30
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe expects to be in full control of Manchester United's football operations by early February.
Ratcliffe's £1.3billion investment in United has yet to be ratified by the Premier League, meaning the 70-year INEOS chief cannot make any decisions on the football side. But ahead of United's Premier League fixture against Tottenham, Ratcliffe met with the media and said he hopes to be exercising control within three to four weeks.
Ratcliffe said: "It's the first match for me since we got here. I'm very excited to be here, but I can’t answer any questions really. It's a big match and we normally do well against Spurs. I have met Erik [ten Hag] but it would be inappropriate [to comment on that meeting] until it's all formalised."
Asked when he expected the deal to be ratified, Ratcliffe said: "Early to mid February. Hopefully they don’t find anything dodgy on the CV!"
Asked if his United investment was exciting as anything he has ever done, Ratcliffe smiled and said: “Correct. Yes.
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“I have done a few exciting things, but this caps it all. There’s no question about that. It's taken a few years and it's taken a few turns, as you know, but these things take some doing."
Ratcliffe is in attendance for Sunday's match against Tottenham (Twitter)Asked how often he planned to come to United games, Ratcliffe said: "I can’t come all the time, because I have some other things. But I will come."
Ratcliffe declined to comment when asked what he saw as his biggest challenge at United and also dodged a question about his first impressions of the club.
"Good question, but it's probably not appropriate to answer that," said Ratcliffe, who revealed his favourite United player was Eric Cantona.
United supporter Ratcliffe, born in nearby Failsworth, said his first United game was six decades ago. "It was when I was a kid, so quite young, 10 or something," said Ratcliffe. "So 60 years ago."