Sir Jim Ratcliffe targeted Manchester United improvement. And it is all ringing very hollow.
When Sir Jim Ratcliffe agreed his purchase of a large stake in Manchester United in December 2023, he asked for a little time. Supporters have been more than generous.
Ineos began running the club in 2024, but Ratcliffe did not hire his full management team until summer 2024. And this led to him admitting that he got it wrong by deciding to stick with Erik ten Hag as manager following the FA Cup win.
Speaking in 2025, Ratcliffe reflected: “It was quite difficult to extract Erik’s performance from the structure around him. Was the erratic performance a function of Erik, or was it a function of the organisation? And we couldn’t really get to the bottom of answering that question with certainty, I suppose, so we gave Erik the benefit of the doubt.”
Ratcliffe’s comments took the view that Ineos had inherited basket case of a club. Richard Arnold and John Murtough did a shambolic job in their short stint, taking over the disastrous Ed Woodward regime.
Now in October 2026, it is two years since Ratcliffe did eventually decide to sack Ten Hag.
And he is once again having to consider whether to make the decision to sack another manager. The club’s form under Michael Carrick is awful, and statistically worse than Erik ten Hag’s 2024/25.
- 2024/25 after six games: 7 points
- 2026/27 after six games: 6 points
While Ratcliffe could point to Ten Hag being the wrong man, hired by a former regime, he has no way to dodge Michael Carrick’s failure.
In late 2026, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos are now fully embedded at the heart of Manchester United, and must take full responsibility for the team’s failure. They are no longer the exciting new owners promising fresh ideas, pledging to rescue a down-on-their-luck club. Instead they are part of the cause.
Ratcliffe and Ineos have no hiding place
If Manchester United did decide to sack Michael Carrick, it would be the club’s second managerial firing inside a year, with Ruben Amorim dismissed in January 2026. Questions would automatically be asked of the club hierarchy.
However, Lisandro Martinez’s outburst has pushed Ineos and specifically Jason Wilcox to the front and centre of the debate.
Wilcox is United’s technical director who was hired and then promoted by Sir Jim Ratcliffe. He is the man who takes the credit on the rare occasions United have good news to share – and then goes into hiding in the tough moments.
United failed to sign a left-back or striker in the summer when the positions were a glaring need, and the club has paid the price on the pitch. The players’ anger and frustration was conveyed through Martinez’s comments, and it reflects fan opinion.
All of this falls back on Ratcliffe. He might defer the blame to Wilcox, but he is the one who hired him.
Just like in 2024 when he assessed Erik ten Hag and took into account the shambolic boardroom above him; Ratcliffe should take a similar view of Michael Carrick.
Is Carrick’s erratic performance purely down to him, or is it the product of the environment he finds himself in? It’s time for Ratcliffe to ask this question – and take a look in the mirror.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/KG5ZLkd