Ratcliffe praises Glazers as 'decent people' amid fresh Man Utd stake sale talks

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone on record calling the Glazer family ‘the nicest people on the planet’, a stance that takes on fresh significance after Bloomberg reported this week that several Glazer family members have held internal discussions about selling their stake in Manchester United after 20 years of ownership.

According to Bloomberg, the conversations are taking place among certain individual members rather than the family as a whole, with some opposed to a sale — a division that could complicate any eventual deal. Any prospective buyer would face a steep entry price: Mirror Football reported last October that the Glazers would only entertain bids exceeding £5 billion for their shareholding, a valuation that factors in the club’s plans to build a new 100,000-seater stadium.

Ratcliffe, who purchased a 27.7 per cent minority stake for £1.25 billion in February 2024 and took control of football operations, addressed his relationship with the majority owners in a 2025 interview with The Times. “To be fair to the Glazers, they’re really good on the commercial side,” he said. “I get a lot of criticism if I support the Glazers, but the fact is they’re really decent people. There isn’t a bad bone in Joel Glazer’s body.”

He also credited the family for their restraint following a turbulent period at the club. “They could have given us a bloody hard time, couldn’t they, after we cocked up with Dan Ashworth and Erik ten Hag? Could have, but didn’t,” Ratcliffe said, acknowledging the costly managerial and sporting director exits that defined his early tenure.

Currently, Avram and Joel Glazer serve as executive co-chairmen at United, while Kevin Glazer, Bryan Glazer, Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and Edward Glazer sit on the board as directors.

Ratcliffe’s warm words for the Glazers have not always played well publicly. He was forced to apologise to the majority owners after a separate interview in which he claimed immigrants had “colonised” the UK provoked significant backlash — a reminder that his public statements carry consequences both inside and outside Old Trafford.

Whether the internal Glazer discussions translate into a formal sale process remains unclear, but any move to offload their controlling stake would represent the most significant ownership shift at United since the family’s leveraged buyout in 2005.