It was an open secret: Jim Ratcliffe has officially applied for the takeover of his favorite club, Manchester United. A news that divides among the supporters and employees of OGC Nice.
“We are officially signed in to the process,” a spokesperson for Jim Ratcliffe told The Times on Tuesday. Ineos is no longer hiding and wants to make Manchester United the showcase for its sporting projects. On the Côte d’Azur, there are fears that OGC Nice will take a back seat if the club’s owners add Manchester United to their list.
“We are afraid of being abandoned by our leaders. We risk being abandoned like Lausanne”, admits a supporter present near the Gym training center. “After trying to buy Chelsea, it’s still a story of big money and we are overwhelmed. It’s a shame because we identify less and less with our club”, plague another.
An email to reassure employees
To prevent these thoughts from coming from club employees, Dave Brailsford, the director of the sports branch of the Ineos Group, had them send an email. In it, Manchester United’s desire to take over is confirmed and the involvement in the Nice project is recalled.
Ineos wishes to reassure about its long-term commitment to Nice. Evidenced by the restructuring undertaken internally with the arrival of Florent Ghisolfi, sports director, and Fabrice Bocquet, general manager. The work undertaken to modernize the training center, which was inaugurated in 2017, is also proof of this. An XXL performance center is to be added to it in the years to come to accommodate the other Ineos Sport entities (cycling, F1, sailing, etc.).
