Manchester United’s potential owner Jim Ratcliffe also owns OGC Nice in Ligue 1, and reports have come out about his interference related to team selection and coaching tactics. He got English players, Aaron Ramsey and Ross Barkley on loan to Nice, but were kept on the bench for the majority of the season.
Ratcliffe has revealed how he tried to interfere with coach, Lucien Favre’s team selection as he urged him to give the English players more game time. In an extract of a new book Grit, Rigour & Humour: The Ineos Story, published in The Times, Ratcliffe showed his tendency to meddle in team affairs.
“It’s driving me mad. “I keep saying, ‘[Dave Brailsford, Nice’s sporting director] – tell him.’ And Dave says, ‘I can’t tell Favre who to pick – he’s the coach.’ So I say, ‘Well, I’m paying the wages.’ Seriously, I don’t want to interfere but there comes a point,” Ratcliffe said in the extract.
“There’s clearly a good reservoir of Premier League players we can tap into. Because Nice is a nice place to be, even on loan. But if you start to get a rumour in the UK that it’s fine but you don’t get picked, it’s quite difficult to scotch. Look at Ramsey. He’s the best footballer we’ve got. He should be playing every week because, with game time, you settle down and confidence grows.”
“It’s similar with Ross Barkley. I saw him at Chelsea and he’s a really good footballer. If his mind’s in the right place and he’s in really good shape, you could play him twice a week because he’s built like a tank, really strong. You have to give a guy a chance to settle. And he gets one game every three or four. It’s ridiculous.”
The INEOS CEO is waiting to hear back from the Glazer family and the Raine Group organising the sale whether his bid of Sheikh Jassim’s has been successful.
