Manchester United may have to wait another three or four years before they are ready to challenge for the title again - according to Stan Collymore.
United's football operations could be set for a radical overhaul, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe on the brink of securing a £1.4billion deal for a 25 percent stake in the club.
Ratcliffe wants overall control of the football side of United and is likely to be handed it, which could mean trouble for Football Director John Murtough and Chief Executive Richard Arnold.
Former Liverpool and England striker Collymore believes Ratcliffe is far better option for United than Sheikh Jassim, who has abandoned his bid for a complete takeover of Old Trafford.
But Collymore has warned United fans it could be another three or four seasons before the structures put in place under Ratcliffe start to yield success in terms of a Premier League title.
World Cup hero wants Man Utd move as doubts over Harry Maguire's future grow
He said: "Jim Ratcliffe has such vast experience in business and within a sporting environment in terms of sponsorships and team building. He will understand and know how successful organisations work. He will know what the benchmarks are and what key performance indicators will need to be put in place at Manchester United.
"I think it will take around three or four years before United are successful again and are ready to win the Premier League title. The most important thing for Manchester United is to have someone at the football club who is a leader and a winner and that is what Jim Ratcliffe is.
"He is the most important Manchester United signing in over a decade."
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to be heavily involved in Man Utd's football operations (PA)Collymore is convinced United will be on a better path under Ratcliffe than Sheik Jassim, claiming the former would have been playing a real-life version of fantasy football, trying to sign big names, without building a side with a strategic approach.
"Sheikh Jassim would have come in and paid off all the debt," Collymore told Lord Ping. "Let’s try and buy Kylian Mbappe, let’s try and buy superstars. It would have been a totally different way to running a football club.
"He would have just thrown money at everything, whereas Jim Ratcliffe will bring some organisation and order to Manchester United. I know a lot of the younger fans may have preferred Jassim to come in and play fantasy football at United, but for me, in the long run, this will be much better for Manchester United and the English football pyramid.
"All fans want their clubs to spend money, but I also think that we want our football clubs to run as proper, sane and sensible competitive entities. United fans want to be competitive for a long time and that is the stability that I think Ratcliffe offers that Jassim doesn’t."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
