Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcllife has attracted the frustration of fans across the Premier League with recent comments about the importance of the bigger sides in the division.
Ratcliffe, whose treatment of the women’s team has also come under fire, sat down with Bloomberg recently for a wide-ranging interview which covered everything from his plans for United to his feelings towards the upcoming elections in the United Kingdom.
Asked whether United are getting “fair treatment” in the Premier League as the “biggest club in the division”, Ratcliffe suggested United and the rest of the so-called big six – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur – deserve a greater voice than the other 14 teams.
“I don’t think I have enough experience in understanding quite how Premier League works yet,” he said. “I mean, I think everybody has an equal vote and there used to be, I believe, as was explained to me, there used to be a sort of coalition of the six major clubs who would have a certain level of influence in the Premiership. But that broke down after the European Super Club initiative.
“And I think they need to be careful that the top six clubs are not disadvantaged because they don’t sort of get a reasonably strong say in the committee. Because at the end of the day it’s those top six or seven clubs that drive the Premiership, and that’s what the world’s interested in.
Predictably, Ratcliffe’s comments did not go down well with the majority of fans on social media.
Ratcliffe also hit out at the Premier League’s plans to trial an “anchoring” system which would limit expenditure on wages and transfer fees in relation to the television income received by the team who finishes bottom of the league, in the hope of stopping the richer sides from simply buying an advantage.
“There was all this conversation about anchoring. What would anchoring do? That would inhibit the top clubs in the Premiership, and the last thing you want in the Premiership is for the top clubs in the Premiership not to be able to compete with the Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG… that’s absurd. If it does [stop Premier League clubs from competing], it ceases to be the best league in the world.
“And then we’ve got the government regulator coming in. If you’ve got a government regulator, at the end of the day they’ll interfere, and that won’t be good.”
Many frustrated fans even used the opportunity to remind Ratcliffe that the ‘Premiership’ name was abandoned in 2007 in favour of the ‘Premier League’.
What we know
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe calls for more support for Premier League’s biggest sides
- Man Utd co-owner believes ‘top six’ drive interest to England’s top flight
- Comments have left supporters furious on social media.