Sir Jim Ratcliffe caught up in tax controversy

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s path to Manchester United ownership has been one of the most closely followed takeover stories in English football.

The British billionaire first attempted to buy the club outright in 2022, submitting a late bid to challenge the Qatari-led offer spearheaded by Sheikh Jassim.

Although that full takeover failed, Ratcliffe returned a year later with a revised proposal centred on partial ownership and footballing control.

His plan gained momentum after months of stalled negotiations between the Glazer family and Qatari representatives.

In February 2024, Ratcliffe completed the purchase of a 27.7 per cent stake in Manchester United, securing sporting control while the Glazers retained majority ownership.

The deal, worth around £1.3 billion, gave Ratcliffe authority over football operations, including recruitment, infrastructure, and long-term strategy.

One of his first major decisions was to reshape United’s executive structure, bringing in new leadership such as Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox while gradually phasing out key Glazer-era figures.

Ratcliffe positioned the INEOS sporting group at the heart of United’s rebuild.

It is against this backdrop of wealth and influence that Ratcliffe has now become the subject of public criticism and political messaging

According to Left foot forward, A new billboard poster has appeared on a building in Manchester with the message: “If you can buy Manchester United, you can pay more tax.”

The campaign group created the advert Everyone Hates Elon and features club co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe on the side of a city-centre building ahead of the government’s Autumn Budget.

The billboard is part of a wider series calling for higher taxation on extreme wealth and targeting several billionaires.

Everyone Hates Elon was formed earlier this year in response to Elon Musk’s comments on British politics and his promotion of disinformation.

Their latest focus is Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the British billionaire who bought a 27.7 per cent stake in Manchester United in February 2024.

Ratcliffe is the founder, chairman and CEO of Ineos, which he established in 1998 and was valued at £29.688 billion in the Sunday Times Rich List 2023, making him the UK’s second richest individual at the time.

In September 2020, Ratcliffe officially switched his tax residence from Hampshire to Monaco, a move estimated to save him around £4 billion.

Earlier this year, eco-activist, entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince criticised him as a “billionaire tax exile,” attacking predicted redundancies and cost-cutting at Manchester United under his ownership.

Vince said, “Costs are cut, lives affected while the football decline continues. This is what happens when a billionaire tax exile takes over a football club. Football is about community and being a part of something, Jim Ratcliffe doesn’t get that.”

In an Instagram post to their 167,000 followers, Everyone Hates Elon addressed the Prime Minister directly, writing, “Hey KeirStarmer, you’re talking about ‘tough choices’ in this month’s budget; how about just getting tough on the billionaires?”

The group continued: “Jim Ratcliffe owns almost a third of the UK’s most famous football team. He has a home here. He works here. Yet he ‘moved’ to Monaco to avoid paying £4 billion in tax.”

They added, “If you can own our most famous football club – you can pay tax. Obviously. The 50 richest families in the UK have more wealth than half of the country combined, yet they’re playing the game with a completely different set of rule. It’s a p*ss take.”