Gary Lineker tears into Man Utd chief Ratfcliffe: 'An unpleasant human being'

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FT Desk

It doesn't appear that Gary Lineker is a fan of Man Utd supremo Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

In December of 2023, Ratcliffe agreed to purchase a 25% stake in Manchester United from the club's owners, the Glazer family.

The deal was officially completed the following February, after receiving approval from the Premier League and the Football Association. As part of the agreement, INEOS took control of the club's football operations, including sporting decisions.

He hasn't proved to be much more popular with the United fans than the Glazers, however, with plenty of his decisions being criticised. Fans have been unhappy about ticket-price increases, staff redundancies, cost-cutting and the team's performances.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he has lost confidence in the UK, describing the country as "on the slide".

"Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody's tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it." [BBC] pic.twitter.com/7Cuhy8G6tl

— utdreport (@utdreport) September 19, 2026

Ratcliffe, who supported Brexit, has also made comments about immigration into the United Kingdom and this week, described the country as "on the slide".

"In America they applaud people who create wealth," he said, as quoted by the BBC.

"Unfortunately, the UK has got a bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment.

"You would expect [the government] to exploit our natural resources and we're clearly not doing that. We're shutting it down.

"If you tax everybody to death, they're all going to leave. And that's what's happening."

Ratcliffe is said to be worth around £15 billion but since 2020 he has been a tax resident of Monaco which means he pays no tax in the UK.

When Ratcliffe mentioned immigrants previously, Man Utd fans paid for a billboard outside Old Trafford which read:

"Immigrants have done more for this city than billionaire tax dodgers ever will."

Following his latest comments skewering the UK, Lineker has provided his two cents.

"I look at Man United and I see problems coming down from the top," he said on The Rest is Football.

"I must congratulate the Glazers on finding someone even worse than them that they can blame and getting him in there and getting all the stick: Jim Ratcliffe.

"I don’t think he’s a particularly pleasant human being and it’s a bit of shambles of a football club the way it’s being run at the moment. So, well done to the Glazers on that one, deflecting everything away from them!"

In Ratcliffe's first full season in charge of Man Utd, the club suffered their worst-ever Premier League finish in 15th and then sacked head coach Ruben Amorim midway through last season.

Michael Carrick came in and remarkably took the club to third and Champions League football, but they have not had a productive start to the new campaign and have won one of their first five games and are 12th heading into the international break.