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Nice lessons may help Ratcliffe at United

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s deal to buy a 25 per cent stake in Manchester United is built on a crucial assumption: that the chemicals billionaire and his team have a better idea of how to win football matches than those currently in charge.

His experience in European football has the most direct relevance to United. His time as owner of French top tier club OGC Nice charts a steep learning curve, costly mistakes, sporting underperformance and bad luck, but some more recent signs of promise.

Football has been part of the Ineos empire since it acquired Swiss club Lausanne-Sport in 2017. The team was relegated soon after. Bob Ratcliffe, Jim’s brother who was then in charge of Ineos’ football interests, admitted afterwards that as owners, the company had been naive by overspending on big name players and “not getting advice from the right people”. Yet some of those mistakes were repeated following the €110mn takeover of French club Nice OGC in the summer of 2019.

 The new owners arrived to find a club lacking structure and run largely on longstanding personal relationships, according to those working in French football at the time. Instead of overhauling the set-up, Ineos chose to stay loyal to those already at the club, taking a hands-off approach. “They quickly realised they didn’t have the experience,” said someone who has had dealings with Nice in the past who described Ineos’ early time in charge as “chaotic”.

The club is on its fifth permanent head coach since the takeover, a symbol of frequent changes in direction, personal dramas and lacklustre results.

However, Nice’s trajectory appears to have shifted since an audit of its operations in the summer of 2022 by Ineos’ director of sport and former cycling coach Sir Dave Brailsford, which led to a clear-out of executives and a number of important hires. Brailsford is set to be a central player at United.

The French side also appears to have found its rhythm on the pitch for the first time since the takeover under new head coach Francesco Farioli, who was virtually unknown before being hired in the summer by Ghisolfi. The 34-year-old Italian had only been a manager in the Turkish league for two years before his move to France. After 17 games, Nice sits second in the table — just five points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain and well on track for next year’s Champions League.

It remains to be seen how all these lessons will inform decision-making at United, a far bigger club, or how Ratcliffe will navigate his partnership with the Glazers. But the rocky years at Nice have at least provided the Ineos team with a valuable education in European football.

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