“Enough is enough. It is time for change."
Manchester United’s Muslim Supporters’ Club (MUMSC) has called for co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to step down after he described the UK as being “on the slide”.
The group said Ratcliffe’s latest comments about Britain were “deeply disappointing and completely unacceptable” and issued what it described as a “statement of no confidence” in the club’s ownership.
Ratcliffe made the comments during a BBC interview.
He said the UK was in decline compared with its past, saying:
“We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars. We’re good, honest folk.
“But unfortunately, at the moment, I think the UK is on the slide. It’s quite difficult to see how we arrest it.”
Ratcliffe attributed Britain’s problems to factors including high taxes and immigration.
In a statement, MUMSC said: “Our players, staff, stewards, security teams and supporters come from different countries, cultures, ethnicities, religions and backgrounds.
“Manchester United would not be Manchester United without them.
“Manchester United does not belong emotionally to investment funds, shareholders or billionaires.
“After years of decline, broken promises and repeated failure, Manchester United Muslim Supporters’ Club has lost confidence in the current ownership structure of Manchester United Football Club.
“Enough is enough. It is time for change. The Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe must go.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe previously caused controversy when he said Britain was “being colonised by immigrants”. He later said he was sorry if those remarks had “offended some people”.
MUMSC said it had challenged those comments and had hoped Ratcliffe had learned from the criticism:
“We hoped a lesson had been learned. Clearly, it has not.
“This week, Sir Jim has again placed immigration and people receiving benefits at the centre of his explanation for Britain’s problems, arguing that nobody is ‘tough enough’ to deal with either.
“We find these latest comments deeply disappointing and completely unacceptable.”
Ratcliffe also criticised the UK’s approach to wealth and taxation, saying the country had a “bit of a green eye towards wealth at the moment”.
He said: “In America, they applaud people who create wealth.
“And the good thing about those people who create wealth is that they then spend that wealth in the economy in which they’re resident.
“And, unfortunately, with the things that they’ve been doing, they’ve been encouraging the people who have created wealth to leave the UK because it’s just become uncomfortable for them for tax reasons or whatever.”
Ratcliffe has also faced criticism from Manchester United supporters over the club’s recent crackdown on ticket touting.
The club revoked 685 season tickets as part of the crackdown, prompting protests from supporter groups including the 1958.
He has also faced opposition over decisions including increasing ticket prices and cutting 450 club jobs.
During the BBC interview, Ratcliffe criticised the government’s decision not to invest further in North Sea resources through licences for the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields.
He described the decision as “insanity” and warned that the UK could “run out of gas” if there was a severe cold spell during the winter.
He said: “The risk you’ve got this winter is that we run out of gas. If we have a really sharp cold spell, then there is conceivably the possibility that we’ll run out of gas and have to switch the industry off.”
Ratcliffe was also asked whether he planned to return to the UK after moving to Monaco in 2020.
He said: “Not at the moment, no. I don’t see growth being tackled.
“Two things: we need politicians who are tough enough to deal with some very difficult problems, and we know what the problems are.
“And we need politicians who will make decisions which are good for the country, not good for themselves and their party. And we haven’t had one of those for a long time.”
