Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed his purchase for a 25 percent stake of Manchester United on December 24 2023.
In doing so, INEOS Sport, of which Ratcliffe is the CEO, assumed control over football operations at the club.
However, United is not Ratcliffe’s only footballing business venture.
With the help of INEOS in 2019, he bought French club OGC Nice from Chinese-American entrepreneur Chien Lee.
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UEFA Multi-Club Ownership Rules
However, this conflict of interest has drawn attention from UEFA, who have imposed rules to ensure no malpractice unfolds.
Nice have been barred from making contact with United’s owners, including INEOS Sport CEO Jean-Claude Blanc, according to L’Equipe.
Both teams will compete in the Europa League this season, with United facing FC Twente tonight and Nice hosting Real Sociedad.
To allow both teams to fairly compete, UEFA have ordered INEOS to temporarily distance themselves from operations at Nice.
They were ordered to put the French club into a blind trust.
A blind trust is a financial arrangement where a trustee independently administers the private business interests of a person to prevent conflict of interest.
That is, Nice’s investments are managed in line with Ratcliffe’s interests, but he does not know exactly how and where the money is invested.
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Transfer Issues
UEFA have also stood in the way of United’s summer business with Nice.
They decreed that no Nice player could sign for United, which halted Jean-Clair Todibo’s potential move to Old Trafford.
The centre-back instead moved to West Ham for a €40m fee.
Ratcliffe spoke out against this harsh decision by UEFA, describing it as ‘not fair’.
“They’ve said we can sell [Todibo] to another Premiership club, but we can’t sell to Manchester United.”
“But that’s not fair on the player and I don’t see what that achieves”, he said.
Ratclife has insisted that his United ownership is a “labour of love” rather than a mere business venture.
Before being the CEO of INEOS, he was a boyhood fan of the club.
He will hope that United hit the ground running with a win in matchday 1 of the Europa League tonight.
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