Manchester United Muslim Supporters' Club demands Ratcliffe resign over immigration remarks

Manchester United’s Muslim Supporters’ Club has called for co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to resign, issuing a formal statement of no confidence after he made remarks about UK immigration policy and what he described as the country’s decline.

Speaking to the BBC at the launch of the EU’s first carbon capture and storage system in Denmark, Ratcliffe said: “We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars. Nobody’s tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody’s tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it.”

It is not the first time Ratcliffe has drawn criticism for comments on immigration. Earlier this year he apologised after saying the UK had been “colonised by immigrants”, acknowledging his choice of language was inappropriate.

The supporters’ group used the statement to connect Ratcliffe’s off-field conduct with what they described as a broader failure of leadership at Old Trafford. United sit 13th in the Premier League with four points from four games, having also been knocked out of the Carabao Cup following a home defeat — a result that came days after losing at home to a Manchester City side reduced to ten men.

“As always, the immediate reaction will be to point at the manager. Then the players. Then the coaching staff,” the statement read. “But Manchester United supporters have been doing this for more than a decade. Managers have changed. Players have changed. Coaching teams have changed. Executives have changed. The cycle hasn’t.”

The group argued that responsibility for the club’s prolonged underperformance lies with its ownership rather than its rotating cast of managers. “For years, the Glazer ownership has presided over Manchester United’s decline,” the statement continued. “When Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS arrived, many supporters hoped it would finally signal meaningful change. We were among those who hoped. Instead, our confidence in the ownership structure has continued to erode.”

The statement cited higher ticket prices, a deteriorating stadium, poor decision-making, and heavy transfer spending without sustained success as evidence of systemic failure under the current ownership structure, and called on both Ratcliffe and the Glazers to leave the club.