Man Utd Owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe Slammed For Immigration Comments

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United’s co-owner, has sparked outrage with his comments about immigrants in the United Kingdom during a damning interview with Sky this week. The 73-year-old is also the head of INEOS and, as such, one of the country’s richest and most influential figures.

However, his influence has not always been wielded well. His controversial cost-cutting at Old Trafford – which has seen several waves of job cuts and 450 redundancies across just two years as part of a so-called “transformation plan” – has already made him a divisive figure within the Premier League.

This week, Ratcliffe has come under renewed criticism from the wider public over his remarks about immigration, which have prompted swift backlash on social media, including from high-profile journalist James Pearce, who works as The Athletic’s Liverpool correspondent.

Related

Every Premier League Club’s Owners Ranked From Worst to Best

From West Ham and Manchester United’s odious ownerships to Brighton and Manchester City’s empires, every Premier League owner has been ranked.

Britain has been “colonised” by immigrants, who are draining resources from the state, Ratcliffe claimed during his interview with Ed Conway. He has warned that the country faces profound political, social and economic challenges, among them an unprecedented rise in immigration in recent years. He said (watch below):

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) estimates that the population of the UK was 67 million in mid-2020 and 70 million in mid-2024, according to Sky. The UK population was estimated at 58.9 million in 2000.

Sir Jim – who is a resident of Monaco – signalled that the current prime minister might not be the right man for the top job, while describing the much-maligned Nigel Farage as an “intelligent man” as he explained that the PM role “needs somebody who’s prepared to be unpopular for a period of time to get the big issues sorted out.”

Reacting to his comments on social media, one X user remarked: “Vermin to society and football,” as a second added: “He is also an immigrant living in Monaco,” and a third wrote: “12 of the current squad players are immigrants. Even Kobbie Mainoo is technically an immigrant as his parents immigrated from Ghana. Sir Clown Ratcliffe.” Meanwhile, the aforementioned James Pearce wrote (see his post below):

Ratcliffe Talks Up Unpopular Leadership by Citing his United Regime

The chemical company boss doubled down on his opinion that unpopular leadership can be a good thing by referencing his own turbulent decisions at Old Trafford. “I’ve seen quite a bit of this at the football club. If you do difficult things, which we felt that we had to do at Manchester United… we felt like they were the right things to do. But you do become very unpopular for a while,” he added.

“Well, I’ve been very unpopular at Manchester United because we’ve made lots of changes. But for the better, in my view. And I think we’re beginning to see some evidence in the football club that that’s beginning to pay off.

“But you’ve got all the same issues with the country. If you really want to deal with the major issues of immigration, with people opting to take benefits rather than working for a living, if you want to deal with that, then you’re going to have to do some things which are unpopular, and show some courage.”