da realbet： The Manchester-born tycoon will be taking control of the Red Devils' football operation after sealing his 25% stake and he has plenty to sort out

da dobrowin： At long last, Manchester United's takeover saga is over. Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS have secured a 25 percent stake in the club, with the Red Devils announcing the deal more than two months after reports emerged that Ratcliffe had beaten Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani in the takeover race.

The much-hated Glazer family will remain in control and it is not the solution many fans had hoped for when it was announced last November that the club was exploring "strategic alternatives", which included the prospect of a full sale.

However, INEOS have a track record of working across elite sport and are bound to shake things up at Old Trafford after a decade of decline under the Glazers' watch. And their arrival comes at just the right time, days after a limp defeat at West Ham compounded the team's dreadful season. The club have lost 13 times in all competitions, are already out of the Champions League and not even good enough for the Europa League.

GOAL takes a look at all the areas Ratcliffe and the INEOS team need to address in order to turn United's fortunes around:

GettyGet the fans on side

Ratcliffe was many fans' top choice to become the club's next owner when dissent against the Glazer family started to intensify in the summer of 2022, and in theory it should not be hard for him to win over supporters. The billionaire grew up in a council estate in north Manchester, just one mile from where United was originally founded as Newton Heath LYR Football Club, and he attended the 1999 Champions League final in Barcelona, describing it as "my most extraordinary football memory".

However, the reality is many fans started to turn against Ratcliffe when it emerged he was only interested in partial ownership and doing a deal which led to the Glazers remaining on board, unlike rival bidder Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, who wanted to buy the club outright.

After initially targeting a 69% stake and then a 50% stake, the 25% stake he has agreed to buy is only going to anger more fans as it still leaves the American family well in control. His positive comments about the Glazers, calling them "charming" and "very nice" have further tarnished his standing among many supporters.

It is up to him to put that right. In France, Ratcliffe is known for engaging with Nice supporters and it should not be hard to get people on board again if he shows his face in public, attends matches regularly and speaks to the fans advisory board and other supporters groups, while demonstrating he is committed to getting the club back on track.

AdvertisementGetty Modernise Old Trafford

United's stadium remains the biggest club ground in Britain and one of the biggest in Europe, but its status has diminished significantly due to a lack of investment. The last meaningful upgrade, filling in the corners to take capacity to 75,000, came in 2006 and was planned before the Glazer takeover.

Since then, the only change has been the odd lick of paint or the successful installation of Wi-Fi. The scoreboards have not changed since the early 2000s and there are no video screens. More worryingly, the roof of the Stretford End has a habit of leaking amid the frequent Manchester downpours. The seats also feel cramped while the concourses get horribly overcrowded at half-time, and on occasion it feels unsafe.

The stadium feels increasingly dated, especially compared with the shiny new homes of Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham, and the modernised grounds of Manchester City and Liverpool. It was to little surprise that City's Etihad Stadium, which is due to boost its capacity to 60,000 fans after its next upgrade, was chosen ahead of the Theatre of Dreams to host Euro 2028 matches.

It has been reported that Ratcliffe wants to increase Old Trafford's capacity to 90,000, but if he is to restore the stadium's international reputation he will have to do a lot more than just add seats, and that will require substantial investment. Real Madrid have spent up to €1 billion (£868m/$1.05bn) on modernising Santiago Bernabeu and that's without increasing capacity, while Barcelona's revamped Camp Nou is set to cost up to €1.5 billion (£1.3bn/$1.58bn).

Getty ImagesImprove player recruitment

Ratcliffe gave an indication of what his United regime might look like in a no-holds-barred attack on the club in a 2019 interview with . United were toiling in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's first full season in charge and Ratcliffe took aim at the club's recruitment strategy. Fred, who had been signed for £50m the previous year, bore the brunt of his criticism.

"United have spent an immense amount since [Sir Alex] Ferguson left and been poor, to put it mildly. Shockingly poor, to be honest," Ratcliffe said. "They haven't got the manager selection right, haven't bought well. They have been the dumb money, which you see with players like Fred.

"We have a different approach here [at Nice], to be moderately intelligent about it. Try to do it more grass roots, trying to locate young talent. Some clubs seem to have an ability to do that, Southampton, Lille. United have done it really poorly. They have lost the plot."

United have not just bought badly; they have developed a worrying habit in recent years of paying high prices for players and then letting them go for almost nothing. Fred departed last summer for £8m, David de Gea left for free and the club couldn't get any decent offers for Harry Maguire, Scott McTominay or Jadon Sancho.

Their rivals, meanwhile, have managed to sell well. Manchester City turned a profit on transfers in 2022 despite buying Erling Haaland and have turned their academy into a money-printing factory.

Ratcliffe and INEOS sporting director Sir David Brailsford will have to revamp United's recruitment network, ensuring they have a wide pool of players to choose from and are not taken for a ride, like they were when paying £60m ($72m) for Mason Mount over the summer or £85m ($103m) for Antony in 2022.

Getty ImagesRefresh the club hierarchy

Player recruitment is not the only area of personnel Ratcliffe and his incoming team will look to address. Chief executive Richard Arnold has already been removed and sporting director John Murtough could be next on the chopping board.

Murtough lacked experience in the role he landed in 2021 and has presided over three summer transfer windows with mixed results. Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mount, Antony and Andre Onana are just some of the signings that have gone wrong under his watch.

Ratcliffe is reportedly considering a number of changes among the club's top brass, including hiring Paul Mitchell as his new sporting director, which would spell bad news for Murtough. Mitchell worked alongside Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton and then Tottenham, and is credited for helping sign Son Heung-min, Dele Alli and Kieran Trippier. He has since worked for RB Leipzig and Monaco, where Ratcliffe resides.