Chelsea vs Man Utd: The big ownership difference no one’s talking about

Robin Bairner

• 20 Sep 2025 03:30 CDT
• 4 min read

Analysis

Chelsea and Manchester United are Premier League giants who have found themselves in hard times of late. But while the Blues are now world champions, United are out of Europe and facing another fight against a season of irrelevance.

Quality of ownership goes a long way to explaining why, with the stark difference in the leadership of the clubs underlined by the way their sister teams in Ligue 1 have been treated – a fact that has again been highlighted in France.

Both BlueCo and INEOS, the respective owners of Chelsea and Man Utd, have teams in France’s top-flight. Strasbourg are owned by the London club while the Red Devils lead Nice – a project that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has spearheaded for several years.

BlueCo thrives at Strasbourg as Nice grumble about Ratcliffe

The trajectories of the two sides could scarcely have been more different. Strasbourg have gone from strength to strength under the hand of BlueCo, reaching the Conference League this season, whereas to Nice project has simply stalled.

Yes, the Allianz Rivera club finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season to reach the Champions League playoffs. That success came, however, without the help of their owners, who were forced to take a back seat last year to comply with UEFA regulations as both competed in the Europa League.

INEOS had set the comparatively easy task of leading Nice into the Champions League on a regular basis when it bought the club in 2019. Six years on, they have yet to play in the group stage. Instead, they have been left to rot as a plaything INEOS have grown bored of. The oil giants and Ratcliffe have moved onto Man Utd, the latest club to be touched by their unique brand of mediocrity.

Where Chelsea have used Strasbourg to park young talent, loan promising players out and using the club as a springboard to the Premier League, INEOS seem to have forgotten Nice.

“I spoke with Manchester United during the transfer window in order to try and find solutions," sporting director Florian Maurice told L’Equipe. "We envisaged things, like asking them to sign a player and then loaning him back to us, but their priority was to sell.”

Similarly, Nice head coach Franck Haise complained on Friday: “Lots of us are waiting for the owners to speak. I hope it will happen, but it’s not for me to say.”

In contrast, the bond between Strasbourg and Chelsea, controversial though it is to many fans of the French club, only appears to be strengthening. On Friday, the Blues announced a deal that will see Emanuel Emegha join the Stamford Bridge side.

BlueCo’s thinking is sophisticated and joined up. From the moment they took command of Strasbourg, they had a clear plan they wished to execute. Racing have a glass ceiling in that they will not be able to compete in the Champions League so long as Chelsea are in the competition, but they have a solid future as a feeder club.

On the other hand, no one really knows what is happening at Nice, just as it’s still not totally clear what INEOS’ strategy at Man Utd is.

It’s no surprise that one ownership group goes from strength to strength while the other appears to be sprinting just to stand still.