Man Utd fans think Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS left hidden dig in takeover announcement video

Fans think Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS aimed a dig at Qatar when they announced their deal with Manchester United.

On Tuesday night, it was officially confirmed that Ratcliffe and his INEOS team had become minority owners at United.

A club statement read: “Manchester United plc (NYSE: MANU), and Trawlers Limited, an entity wholly-owned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, are pleased to confirm that Sir Jim Ratcliffe has completed his acquisition of 25% of the club’s Class B shares and 25% of the club’s Class A shares, following the satisfaction of all conditions, including approvals from the Football Association and the Premier League.”

Ratcliffe said: “To become co-owner of Manchester United is a great honour and comes with great responsibility. This marks the completion of the transaction, but just the beginning of our journey to take Manchester United back to the top of English, European and world football, with world-class facilities for our fans. Work to achieve those objectives will accelerate from today.”

INEOS also announced the deal via a video on their social media account, the colours used on the post have got fans talking.

One fan said: “Qatar colours is crazy omds.”

Another tweeted: “Today Ratcliffe felt Qatari.”

A third fan added: “Phenomenal colour scheme! lol Welcome Sir Jim!”

Someone else wrote: “Those colors are absolutely GODLIKE trolling.”

A fifth commented: “These guys just deliberately used Qatar’s color schemes for their United announcement. This right here is the height of silent banter!”

Today marks the successful completion of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment in @ManUtd and the beginning of a new journey together: https://t.co/gjuMcSFDEA#MUFC pic.twitter.com/kl450Fb20F

— INEOS (@INEOS) February 20, 2024

Prior to securing a deal with United, it was well documented that Ratcliffe was up against Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who eventually withdrew his bid to buy the club after failing to meet the Glazers’ demands.

Joel Glazer, United's Executive Co-Chairman, said: “I would like to welcome Sir Jim as co-owner and look forward to working closely with him and INEOS Sport to deliver a bright future for Manchester United.”