Man Utd bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe once slammed by his own player at Nice

Manchester United bidder Sir Jim Ratcliffe was once slammed by one of his own players at Nice.

British billionaire Ratcliffe is thought to be increasingly confident of securing a 25 per cent stake in United after Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani withdrew from the process of buying the Old Trafford club.

It has been widely reported that Ratcliffe wants to assume control of football operations should his £1.3billion offer be approved.

It is not clear how an Ineos minority stake would be structured and if the Glazers would accept it, however, an agreement could be finalised at a United board meeting set to take place on Thursday.

As per the BBC, Ratcliffe and his Ineos group are thought to hope that should they take charge of the football side of the club's business with a quarter share, it may reassure supporters unhappy that the Glazers will remain at United.

However, some fans may be wary of Ratcliffe’s record in football given Nice are among the clubs in his vast sporting portfolio.

While Les Aiglons are currently second in the Ligue 1 table, a point adrift of Monaco at the summit, last term the club endured a tumultuous campaign.

Nice finished an underwhelming ninth and Ratcliffe was among those to be scrutinised for the underachievement. A year earlier the Brit had said he wanted the club to compete with Paris Saint-Germain for the Ligue 1 title.

Indeed the mixed zone, after Nice’s 0-0 draw with Toulouse in May, club captain Dante was critical of the Nice hierarchy, including Ratcliffe’s ownership.

As per L’Equipe, Dante said: “I think at some point you have to be clear in what you’re saying.

“To maintain a project, maybe you need to speak less about objectives and work in silence to create an environment of competitors. Because the expectation is even bigger, and then after, people are frustrated.

“The best thing to do is to prepare as quickly as possible for next season in order to start it well. Do you remember how many players came in at the end of the transfer window last summer? Six left, six arrived.

“It’s difficult in these conditions. Simply, we mustn’t make the same errors. If someone wants my opinion, the earlier we organise ourselves, the better it will be. If we want to aim higher, we have to anticipate things and put the values of the organisation in place.

“When the coach (Lucien Favre) arrived, we said in two years that we would always be in the Champions League. It doesn’t work like that. Ligue 1 is very difficult.

“We lost 10 players, 10 arrived. The teams in the semi-finals of big competitions play together for three, four years. We changed everything last summer. There is a lack of coherence somewhere. I am sorry to say that.

“To be more concrete, how many players have been consistent this season? The response is simple. A competitive team has 12, 13, 14 players at the top level.”

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Topics: Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Nice, Ligue 1

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.