Sir Jim Ratcliffe has implored Manchester United fans to be ‘patient’ with the club over the next year or two as they try to build themselves back up to former glories.
The new Manchester United part-owner was speaking to BBC Sport’s Gabby Logan after completing the London Marathon, before heading to Wembley to watch his club squeak past Coventry City on penalties in the FA Cup semi-finals.
That game was a perfect illustration of United’s flaws, allowing Championship opposition to overcome a three-goal deficit to force extra time and then going through a hell of a scare in the last minute of the additional 30 as VAR ruled out a potential Coventry winner for offside.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe spells out scale of Manchester United revamp
That is to take nothing away from Coventry’s incredibly heroic efforts, and they deserve all the credit in the world.
But from a Manchester United perspective, it was something of a fiasco despite claiming a shootout victory that sets up a big derby with Manchester City in next month’s FA Cup Final.
United are trying to bring a new backroom staff in to help with their revamp, but have been frustrated by rival clubs' refusal to let key staff out of their contracts - most notably Newcastle United's sporting director Dan Ashworth. Ashworth has been placed on gardening leave at Newcastle since Manchester United made an approach for his services but have so far been unable to make a suitable offer to prise him away early.
Sir Jim drew on the experience of running the 42km-long race across the capital to draw an analogy to the task facing United, commenting: “There are some parallels, I have to say.
“I think it just sort of requires some grit, doesn’t it. Always in a marathon after 30km it gets quite difficult, and I don’t think we’re quite at 30km in football yet.
“We’re not even [halfway] really, we’re probably in the first 10km, but it’s a long journey really, the football.
“One of the biggest problems we’ve got in football is you get these new guys to come into the [backroom] team, really capable people, but they’re all on gardening leave, so it takes you six months to a year or 18 months before you can [see the benefits].
“They can’t work for us, the fans are impatient, and I have sympathy with that, but it’s a journey. Whether you like it or not they have to be a bit patient. It’s not a light switch, you can’t just turn it around like that, it takes a bit of time. But I’m sure we will.”
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