UNTOLD UNITED: THE DOWNFALL OF BRITAIN'S BIGGEST CLUB. Volume 5 - How Sir Jim Ratcliffe plans to rescue Manchester United from the depths

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was supposed to be the answer to the Glazers preventing Manchester United 's progress. Forgive the imagery but he was supposed to be the guy wielding the plunger and getting rid of the blockage. He was the no-nonsense businessman come to rid the club of its stench of under-achievement and incompetence.

Even if the Glazers were not banished, it felt as if Ratcliffe’s acquisition of a minority share of United and control of the playing side of the club meant that they were at least in retreat. Ratcliffe’s arrival meant United fans could at least tell themselves there was some separation between the club and the detested owners.

It didn’t really matter that Ratcliffe’s Manchester credentials were undermined by his living in Monaco, his offices being headquartered in London and that he had shown an interest in buying Chelsea , where he also had a season ticket.

Ratcliffe was born in Manchester and he had an awful lot of money. That was enough.

Fans invested in him as a man capable of changing the narrative, of reversing the decline. A billionaire who could end the chaos and confusion, and get Manchester United back on their perch.

But so far United and the Premier League are yet to yield to the 73-year-old's ambition. There has been a lot of noise, a lot of talking and some memorable soundbites. There have been lots of job losses, too - 450 redundancies at the last count. But there has been no uptick in results. In fact, under Ratcliffe’s first managerial appointment, Ruben Amorim , things have largely been worse than ever.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe was supposed to be the answer to the Glazers preventing Manchester United's progress

In fact, under Ratcliffe’s first managerial appointment, Ruben Amorim, things have largely been worse than ever

Ratcliffe’s two years at United have been characterised by an awful lot of window dressing. A new-look training ground, a design for a new stadium that looks like the Big Top at a circus and - in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo - two attacking footballers who may just have what it takes to live up to United’s glorious past.

Still, though, there exists that tangible whiff of what is now so familiar at Manchester United: Chaos.

Ratcliffe has told us we will be able to see the new Old Trafford from the Peak District. Well, until United manage to secure funding and indeed buy the requisite land, it remains unclear when – or indeed, if – we will ever see it at all.

He told us that Dan Ashworth was the best in class as a sporting director when he took him from Newcastle in July 2024 in an acrimonious recruitment process. But then sacked him five months later, costing United £4million.

Ratcliffe decided to jettison Erik ten Hag before an FA Cup final that would be won against Manchester City but changed his mind when the club couldn’t find a replacement. Ten Hag got a new contract. And then, last October, he got the bullet.

Ratcliffe was supposed to offer solutions. But so many questions still circle Old Trafford, the dilapidated monument to a bygone era: what is United’s direction under Ratcliffe and his new look executive team, assembled in part by taking some of the best people that rivals City had to offer?

And all the while they don’t win. Not consistently. Not enough.

Until they do, Ratcliffe’s tenure remains under intense scrutiny. From that point of view, the current regime already feels as though it is close to a tipping point. No wonder they are being so bullish about their support of Amorim.

Ratcliffe fired Erik ten Hag, then watched his replacement Amorim blunder his way through his first season - culminating in the agonising Europa League final loss to Tottenham

A storm swirls around United off the pitch - and all the while on it, they don’t win. Not consistently. Not enough

At the outset, Ratcliffe’s intentions were clear. Like him or not, there is something to admire about his honesty and the strength he places in his own convictions.

Ending Sir Alex Ferguson’s £2m-a-year ambassadorial gig didn’t have good optics but was logical. Ratcliffe was also unapologetic when choosing to end a work-from-home culture he felt was holding the club back - and in ripping up an agreement that said staff at the stadium or training ground didn’t have to pay for their lunch.

‘My money is in this pot and I'm not here to make more - I just want to win,’ Ratcliffe told staff early on and nobody has any reason to doubt him.

In one of the endless interviews to podcasts, newspapers and websites he has felt compelled to give since buying his stake, Ratcliffe revealed United were paying someone £175,000 a year to be a body language expert. Presumably they were able to read the room on the way out.

Having ordered those who were working from home to report to the office soon after his purchase was rubber-stamped, he realised, even to his own surprise, that there were not enough desks to go round.

‘That was an eye-opener,’ explains one insider. ‘At the start of Covid, staff levels were around 800, which was in line with other Premier League clubs.

‘But that figure grew to around 1,200 and nobody noticed because lots of people were working from home. That there were too many to fit in the offices made the point that it had got out of control.’

This was not the culture the petrochemicals billionaire had deployed at his various businesses. In Jim’s world, you cannot expect to be on the same page when you are not in the same building.

In Jim’s world, you cannot expect to be on the same page when you are not in the same building

The £50million revamp of Carrington, completed in August, was the first direct investment in the club on such a scale in decades

Close to two years later and, off the field, the fingerprints of Ineos and Ratcliffe are all over United. Carrington, the club’s training base, is a case in point. When Ratcliffe visited for a first walkaround, the impression was far from positive.

A source described the training ground as resembling a ‘depressing cottage hospital’ that would put off potential transfer targets, and Ratcliffe spent around £50m on then director Sir Dave Brailsford’s recommendations. It was the first direct investment in the club on such a scale in decades.

The results, from an aesthetic standpoint, are impressive, and around 70 Old Trafford-based employees have moved to the new and improved facility.

Chief executive Omar Berrada, lured by Ineos from City, and the senior commercial executives are on the same floor at Carrington as director of football Jason Wilcox, manager Amorim and the whole football operation. The idea is to foster a spirit of togetherness and a culture of conversation by the water coolers and coffee machines.

Another issue identified early on was a lack of talent at senior levels. While those involved are reluctant to name names, a look at the make-up of United’s board now as opposed to at the time of Ratcliffe's investment shows Collette Roche, the chief operating officer, as the sole survivor. ‘There was a lot of mediocrity,’ one insider explained.

Some would take umbrage at this version of history. Indeed, some ex-staffers Daily Mail Sport have spoken to believe it is unfair and that some of those who have departed were serious players, responsible for the major sponsorship deals with Snapdragon (£60m a year) and adidas (£90m a year).

There is also a theory that making such a narrative public has served to further traumatise an already on-edge staff, many of whom were close to those who have left.

Empathy has not been a prominent feature of Ratcliffe’s reign so far. And the forensic attack on costs has upset some. There have been reports of United's maintenance team counting cartons of screws to ensure they were not over-ordering.

What cannot be disputed, however, is that Ratcliffe and his group have made mistakes since the Glazers handed them the keys. There are two major ones which Sir Jim may well acknowledge himself.

The first was the decision to hand Ten Hag that contract extension in the summer of 2024, then arm him with £200m to spend on players.

The blame for that, according to some, lies at the door of the second mistake, which was the short-lived appointment of Ashworth.

Attempts to bring in Thomas Tuchel to replace Ten Hag failed and sources close to the German, now manager of the England national team, tell a story of a botched attempt to hire an elite coach.

There were four separate interviews, questions asked of Tuchel that he deemed frivolous and, finally, both parties went their separate ways without a formal proposal ever being tabled.

United also considered a number of other candidates, including Thomas Frank, now at Tottenham, Roberto De Zerbi, then at Brighton and now at Marseille, and one of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s old coaches, Kieran McKenna, by then managing at Ipswich.

The speculation was humiliating for Ten Hag. When he walked through the interview area after that bravura FA Cup final win over City, he put his hand up to wave and mouthed ‘goodbye’. Nobody ever expected him to return to Manchester again, least of all himself.

‘They were running around like headless chickens trying to find a new manager,’ explained one source. ‘It was a big mistake. They should have gone for Amorim then but Dan Ashworth was against that one.’

Attempts to bring in Thomas Tuchel to replace Ten Hag failed and sources close to the German, now manager of England, tell a story of a botched attempt to hire an elite coach

United's executives at the 2024 FA Cup final - their victory ended up causing a headache, as it saved Ten Hag's seemingly doomed job

By the time the Portuguese finally arrived in November 2024, Ashworth had gone and the damage had been done. Another season was lost, another campaign consigned to the dustbin, recovery postponed at least another year.

But now, at least, there is a clearer line of power in what is seen as the Berrada and Wilcox axis. Berrada has particularly impressed as he seeks to put foundations in place for long-term success.

There have been a host of other hires, including the recent acquisition of Ameesh Manek from Brentford as director of football operations, Marc Armstrong from Paris Saint-Germain as chief business officer, Mike Sansoni from the Mercedes F1 team to become director of data and Kirstin Furber, from Channel 4, as people director.

In the most important role at the club, Amorim has impressed off the field and is well-liked by those in the corridors of power. It’s just a shame that, for the most part, the product on the pitch has been dire.

Sometimes, his brutal honesty has felt unpalatable to some at the club. Amorim does not pull punches, but isn't the only one to talk before he thinks. Few put their foot in it like Ratcliffe does. United have somehow managed to migrate from an ownership group that never speaks – the Glazers – to a minority investor who simply can’t shut up.

Asked about this, a source close to Ratcliffe said: ‘Jim feels he owes lots of people favours. He doesn’t like to say no.' As it stands, a book commissioned by Ratcliffe to chart his journey at United is still in the pipeline but there are now doubts as to whether it will ever reach the publisher.

Certainly, his public backing of Amorim for the next three years will mean nothing if results continue to flatline.

Other utterances have landed particularly badly. On making another round of redundancies this year, Ratcliffe said he had no choice as the club was in danger of going bust by Christmas. That was palpably untrue and was further undermined when United started throwing cash around in the transfer market during the summer.

United have somehow managed to migrate from an ownership group that never speaks – the Glazers – to a minority investor who simply can’t shut up

Ratcliffe said he had no choice but to make redundancies as the club was in danger of going bust by Christmas. That was palpably untrue - as proven by their transfer splurge this summer

But Ratcliffe’s world is not about optics and social media reactions and opinion polls. It’s about results. But it will only wash if he takes the club where it needs to be. If he doesn’t, he will be remembered largely as a man who put up ticket prices, slashed disabled parking privileges and put hundreds of Mancunians on the dole.

The future of the stadium remains unclear and may well transpire to be another major strand on which the Ratcliffe era is seen to stand or fall.

His claim that he wishes to build a 'Wembley of the North' feels rather disingenuous. Those in the North who do not support United may even consider it insulting and patronising.

The jury remains out on the JR gang. It has not been so much a new dawn under Ineos at United as a shimmering mirage of what the promised land may look like.

And all the while, the Glazers retain all the real power at United. Nothing of major importance is done without sign off-from Joel Glazer – and that extends to player recruitment and sales.

And United still remain vulnerable to another big power play from elsewhere. If the Glazers decide to sell, the way their deal with Ratcliffe is framed means that he will be obliged to do likewise. Another dollop of uncertainty.

For now, Ratcliffe is also making the small but necessary adjustments to his own life. Before his involvement at Old Trafford, he liked to spend some mornings at a French restaurant in Sloane Square.

He now breakfasts in private, thanks to repeated requests for selfies and the general pestering that comes when you are deemed to have the future of Manchester United in your hands.

The jury remains out on the JR gang. It has not been so much a new dawn under Ineos at United as a shimmering mirage of what the promised land may look like

The proposed new stadium to replace Old Trafford is a beacon of hope - but will the reality be anything like the shiny images?

Ratcliffe's claim that he wishes to build a 'Wembley of the North' feels rather disingenuous. Those in the north who do not support United may even consider it insulting and patronising

Ratcliffe is an impressive businessman. You don't become the UK's richest person, and amass a personal fortune of tens of billions, without steel, intelligence and determination.

But turning the United's Class of 2025 back into a footballing superpower, in a world that has changed so fundamentally in the past dozen years, is a unique challenge - no matter how sophisticated and impressive your skillset.

Can Ratcliffe do it? He is a man in a hurry. He gives the impression he is just as bored of United’s mediocrity as their fanbase.

United have been rebuilt before. They rose again from the tragic wreckage of the Munich Air Disaster in 1958 to become the biggest football club in the world, a club than ran on twin engines of emotion and excellence.

This is the club of Sir Matt Busby, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, and Denis Law. This is the club of Sir Alex Ferguson, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers.

This is a club of giants. It is a club of champions. It is a club whose size and support and wealth should position it at the top of the Premier League, a club that should be challenging for the Champions League every season.

Instead, United have become an embarrassment. An embarrassment to their own fans and an embarrassment to English football.

This is a club that once thought of itself as a rival, on and off the pitch, to Real Madrid. That idea, on and off the pitch, is laughable now.

United have been rebuilt before. They rose again from the tragic wreckage of the Munich Air Disaster in 1958 to become the biggest football club in the world

This is the club of Sir Matt Busby, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, Denis Law, Sir Alex Ferguson, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and more

This is a club of giants. It is a club of champions. It is a club whose size and support and wealth should have it at the top of the Premier League and Champions League

The litany of crimes against the club makes for the worst rap-sheet in modern football.

A club that once bestrode English football has been brought this low and even if it is tempting to pin it all on the rapaciousness of the Glazers, and the ideological and practical bankruptcy of their rule over the club, the supporting cast of losers and opportunists who have contributed to the years of misery is long indeed.

So much damage has been done, for so long, wrought by so many, that the sick man of English football still lies in his fever, unable yet to summon the strength to rise.

The Mail's UNTOLD UNITED team: Chris Wheeler, Ian Ladyman, Mike Keegan, Ian Herbert, Oliver Holt and Jack Gaughan