Manchester United Muslim Supporters' Club declares no confidence in Ratcliffe and Glazers amid wider ownership frustration

The Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club (MUMSC) has formally declared it has no confidence in Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family, releasing a lengthy statement that its chairman says has been widely misread as a reaction to Ratcliffe’s political views alone.

The statement, released over the weekend, outlined the group’s frustration with what it described as ‘years of decline’ under United’s ownership, pointing to rising ticket prices, the deterioration of Old Trafford, and what it called wasteful transfer spending as the core grievances.

A paragraph addressing Ratcliffe’s recent BBC interview — in which the Ineos founder claimed no politician was ‘tough enough’ to tackle immigration and benefits — drew significant attention and, according to MUMSC chairman Asif Mahmud, overshadowed the statement’s broader intent. “This has been bubbling for quite some time. It’s not something that’s a knee-jerk reaction,” Mahmud told MEN Sport. “We’ve had frustrations at the ownership model for a long, long time.”

Mahmud said the group had initially welcomed Ratcliffe’s arrival. “We were very much, genuinely, excited about Jim coming in because he was a Manchester lad, seemed to actually support and care about the club,” he said. “But since they’ve arrived, it’s just a vicious cycle of hiring and firing, managers not getting backed fully, staff at the club being unhappy — it’s just the overall atmosphere and the feeling around the club. And that’s been reflected on the pitch.”

The decision to go public crystallised in two stages, Mahmud explained. The first was dissatisfaction at the close of the summer transfer window, when he felt the squad had been left short of necessary reinforcements. The second was the derby defeat to Manchester City, which he described as the moment he felt compelled to act.

“It was actually that evening that I reached out to some of our committee members and said: ‘Look, I feel we should put out a statement about not being happy with the way the club’s being run,’” he said. Mahmud also contacted other official supporters’ clubs, proposing a collective statement of no confidence, believing a unified voice would carry more weight.

On Ratcliffe’s BBC comments, MUMSC was unambiguous. “We hoped a lesson had been learned. Clearly, it has not,” the statement read, referencing Ratcliffe’s earlier apology in February after he described the UK as having been ‘colonised by immigrants’. “We find these latest comments deeply disappointing and completely unacceptable.”

Mahmud is clear, however, that the political remarks were a contributing factor rather than the sole cause. The group’s no-confidence declaration is directed at the entire ownership structure — Ratcliffe’s Ineos operation and the Glazer family — and reflects what he describes as a sustained breakdown of trust between supporters and those running the club.