Man Utd given Ratcliffe warning as ‘errors’ in Nice ‘project’ is exposed by angry fans and captain
Nice captain Dante has criticised the “errors” made by the club’s hierarchy, inadvertently sending a warning to Man Utd fans with Sir Jim Ratcliffe in the running to buy the Premier League giants from the Glazers.
Ratcliffe is going head to head with Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim for the ownership of the Red Devils.
The INEOS chairman and CEO is a lifelong Man Utd fan but is thought to have made a bid that would see him work alongside the Glazer family, which no real fan would be happy to do.
There are obviously fears over Qatar’s human rights record with many fans strongly opposed to Sheikh Jassim taking full ownership of the Red Devils.
MORE: The Glazers are going. Now the fight against Qatar for Man Utd’s soul must begin
Jassim does not own any other football teams, while Ratcliffe has owned French outfit Nice since August 2019.
The highest Nice can finish in Ligue 1 this season is eighth following their drab 0-0 draw at home to Toulouse on Sunday.
The club’s supporters made it known how unhappy they are with their side’s season, with two major ultra groups boycotting the match.
This is easily the biggest sign of supporter discontent since Ratcliffe bought the club nearly four years ago.
And Nice skipper Dante was quick to criticise the ownership for the 2022 summer transfer window and overall management of the club.
“I think at some point you have to be clear in what you’re saying,” he said after the draw against Toulouse. “To maintain a project, maybe you need to speak less about objectives and work in silence to create an environment of competitors. Because the expectation is even bigger, and then after, people are frustrated.
“The best thing to do is to prepare as quickly as possible for next season in order to start it well. Do you remember how many players came in at the end of the transfer window last summer? Six left, six arrived. It’s difficult in these conditions. Simply, we mustn’t make the same errors.
“If someone wants my opinion, the earlier we organise ourselves, the better it will be. If we want to aim higher, we have to anticipate things and put the values of the organisation in place.”
Ratcliffe stated before 2022/23 that he wanted Nice to be competing with Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the table, but that has not gone to plan.
“When the coach (Lucien Favre) arrived, we said in two years that we would always be in the Champions League,” Dante continued. “It doesn’t work like that. Ligue 1 is very difficult.
“We lost ten players, ten arrived. The teams in the semi-finals of big competitions play together for three, four years.
“We changed everything last summer. There is a lack of coherence somewhere. I am sorry to say that.
“To be more concrete, how many players have been consistent this season? The response is simple. A competitive team has 12, 13, 14 players at the top level.”
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