Jim Ratcliffe wants Dave Brailsford to overhaul Manchester United — billionaire behind Ineos sporting empire remains confident of successful bid

Sir Dave Brailsford is reportedly already working on transforming one of England’s biggest football clubs – Manchester United.

That’s the word from The Times, which reports that Brailsford – former performance director of British Cycling, general manager of Ineos Grenadiers and current sporting director of Ineos – has been tasked by Sir Jim Ratcliffe to overhaul the sporting side “to make it a club Number one in the world to do again”.

The billionaire behind the petrochemical giant – who has built a massive sports empire, including title sponsorship of the WorldTour cycling team, a partnership with the Mercedes Formula 1 team and owning several football teams in Europe and Africa, most notably the French Ligue 1 -Club OGC Nice prominent – ​​has expressed interest in buying United from current owners, the Glazer family, but faces competition from a Qatari group led by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, leader of Qatari Islamic bank.

Despite stiff competition for the club, estimated by the Glazers at £5bn, The Times reports that Ratcliffe has already instructed Brailsford to work on plans and hold talks with top-notch figures in recruitment, analysis, sport science and training ground infrastructure open .

The newspaper also reports that a third unnamed group is involved in talks being held by US investment bank Raine in Manchester, but Ratcliffe remains hopeful his bid, believed to be the only English interest, will succeed.

Should the Ineos land, United fans are hoping that Brailsford, the figure behind the Marginal Gains philosophy, British Cycling’s track golds and seven Sky/Ineos Tour de France titles, will find greater success than at Nice, where his restructuring of the French top clubs was described by one of the country’s leading football journalists as “counterproductive” and riddled with “mistakes”.

“He reminds me a bit of Sir Clive Woodward when England won the Rugby World Cup. He thought he could get into any sport, including football, and be successful and that kind of thing just doesn’t happen,” Julien Laurens told a BBC Podcast in October.

Nice’s fortunes have improved somewhat since then, the club climbing into the top half of the table in the months after it was revealed that Brailsford were living in a “luxury camper” at the training ground.

Laurens has been critical of the club and Brailsford’s recruitment, calling some of the England signings “silly”, devoid of logic and not making “a lot of sense”. A shining reference, then…

“Maybe you can understand it when you know Dave Brailsford is there. He clearly believes he can do a good job in football,” said Laurens. Despite today’s reports, it remains to be seen if he will play (or actually get the chance) at United.