Ratcliffe ploughs another £79m into Man Utd

Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has ploughed another $100m (£79.43m) into the Old Trafford club.

The payment had to be made by 31 December under the terms of the agreement between Ratcliffe and the Glazer family that was announced earlier this year.

It was confirmed by a filing United made to the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning and takes Ratcliffe's stake in United to 28.94%.

The money will be used for infrastructure projects and is not available for transfers.

In addition, it was revealed the ownership was being transferred from Ratcliffe to his company INEOS in line with his other sporting enterprises.

Christmas Eve will mark 12 months since Ratcliffe and the Glazer family agreed their deal, since when the boyhood United fan has transformed the structures within the club, bringing in former Manchester City chief football operations officer Omar Berrada as chief executive and Southampton technical director Jason Wilcox in a similar role.

However, the transition has not been straightforward. Erik ten Hag was initially retained as manager following United's FA Cup final victory against Manchester City, then ditched after 10 Premier League games. And, after spending five months on gardening leave while compensation was agreed with Newcastle, Dan Ashworth was dumped as sporting director after just five months at Old Trafford.

In addition, 250 staff members have been made redundant, while other perks for ordinary staff members have been slashed as Ratcliffe cuts cost with the aim of being able to invest more in the first-team.

Discussions over a new stadium will continue until the middle of 2025, although work on massive improvements to United's Carrington training ground have been started.