Will ‘marginal gains’ be enough to take Manchester United back to top of footballing ladder?

After months of speculation, British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe is about to claim a major stake in the Old Trafford club, with United fans unconvinced the new era will be any more palatable than the last.

Ratcliffe’s deal to buy a 25 per cent slice of United was the best one on the table for the boss of the INEOS sporting group after his initial attempts at a full takeover were thwarted by the Glazer family’s determination to hang on to power in Manchester.

Despite the enduring hate directed at the United owners from the club’s fans, their addiction to draining their Old Trafford cash machine was too strong to allow them walk away.

So the prospect of an investment of more than £1billion from Ratcliffe and the chance to remain key players at the club was a deal that suited all parties ... except concerned United fans.

A new-look football committee at United will see Ratcliffe and Joel Glazer overseeing a three-man decision-making process that will be completed by one of the more controversial figures in the world of sport over the last decade.

David Brailsford would reject claims that his sporting achievements have been tainted after he masterminded Great Britain’s stunning rise as the kings of cycling on the track at the Olympic Games and then on the road, as he helped Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas win the Tour de France.

Brailsford’s knighthood for his services to British sport is evidence of his achievements, yet scratch the surface of the weighty pile of glistening achievements and the gloss is quickly removed.

This is the sporting guru who set out on a mission to reinvent the art of winning in a sport as famous for its cheats as its heroes, with Lance Armstrong and a long list of serial dopers shattering cycling’s reputation beyond repair.

Amid these negative perceptions, Brailsford’s success in transforming Team GB into the kings of track cycling was viewed with suspicion outside a euphoric home audience, with their ability to peak perfectly for each Olympic Games a mystery their rivals openly questioned.

Those same suspicions were raised when Wiggins won the Tour de France in 2012 as part of Brailsford’s Team Sky, with a report published by the British parliament six years later highlighting the team’s use of a loophole that saw them give regular enhancement to their cyclists under the therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) rule.

Amid the doubts, Brailsford famously put his success down to the ‘marginal gains’ he promoted as part of his meticulous attention to detail.

Yet that ethos was cast in a very different light after Wiggins gave his verdict on the input of the team’s leader.

“I think it’s a load of rubbish, if I’m honest,” Wiggins said of the ‘marginal gains’ mantra.

“A lot of people made a lot of money out of it and David Brailsford used it constantly as his calling card. But I always thought it was a load of rubbish.”

The endlessly analysed story around a ‘mystery package’ that was delivered to Wiggins during his 2012 Tour de France win added to the controversy and was the subject of a long investigation by the UK Parliament.

In their final report in 2018, the British political leaders declared that Brailford’s Team Sky were guilty of “crossing an ethical line” in its use of TUEs more broadly.

“Contrary to the testimony of David Brailsford in front of the committee, we believe that drugs were being used by Team Sky, within World Anti-Doping Agency rules, to enhance the performance of riders, and not just to treat medical need,” the damning report concluded.

Only last August, doctor Richard Freeman – the former chief medic at both British Cycling and Team Sky – was banned from all sport for four years for violating anti-doping rules, in one of the most significant cheating scandals in British sporting history.

Despite the controversy, Brailsford remained a key figure when Team Sky became Team INEOS in 2019, as Ratcliffe took over the team and built up his portfolio of high-profile sporting franchises.

In his role as director of sport at INEOS, Brailsford oversees a sporting empire that includes a one-third share of Formula 1 team Mercedes, full ownership of French Ligue 1 football club Nice and Swiss team FC Lausanne, as well as the INEOS Britannia sailing team.

Brailsford’s role at United will be similar to the position he has filled at Nice since he was appointed director of sport in 2021.

Following the exit of Red Devils chief executive Richard Arnold earlier this month, Brailsford looks set to be a pivotal figure in what comes next at Old Trafford.

Yet the arrival of a cycling team principal in the central role at United, backed up by a member of the loathed Glazer family, will raise plenty of eyebrows.

This story has echoes of rugby chief Clive Woodward orchestrating a disastrous attempt to adopt the methods that brought him World Cup success as England’s rugby coach into football with Premier League side Southampton in 2006.

There may also be comparisons with Todd Boehly’s hitherto chaotic attempts to bring tactics that worked well in his baseball team into practice after his takeover of Chelsea.

Many fans of French club Nice have expressed their frustration with how Ratcliffe and Brailsford have managed their club since they bought it in 2019.

Now United fans desperate for an upturn in their club’s fortunes on and off the field are hoping for a rapid turnaround when Ratcliffe and Brailsford reveal their master plan for what comes next.

There is no doubt that Ratcliffe, who has an estimated net worth of £29.688b according to the most recent Sunday Times Rich List, has the financial firepower to blast United back into the winners’ circle.

Yet until United’s new part-owner and his sidekick Brailsford confirm they can make the marginal gains that have been lacking for far too long at Old Trafford, pessimism will be hard to shift.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT TO …

ERIC TEN HAG

The United manager has overseen a chaotic start to the season that has featured trouble on and off the field.

There are suggestions Jim Ratcliffe will urge him to end his feud with exiled midfielder Jadon Sancho, but that plea may fall on deaf ears.

The trouble for Ten Hag is he is in a weak negotiating position as United fans are losing faith in his ability to guide the club back to their longed-for glory days.

OLD TRAFFORD

Ratcliffe has confirmed his investment in United will include much-needed improvements to the club’s outdated Old Trafford stadium and their training base at Carrington.

Both facilities have been rotting under the Glazer’s watch in recent years, with leaks in the roof at Old Trafford evident this season.

Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo mocked United’s training base before his exit from the club last year, suggesting it had not been upgraded in 15 years.

UNITED FANS

United supporters remain unhappy by their club’s ownership structure.

Their long-standing drive to get the Glazer family out of the club appeared to have succeeded when the American owners put the club up for sale.

Yet they refused to do a deal with Qatari investors as the bid from Ratcliffe and INEOS gave them a chance to stay at the club and continue to take profits from it.

Quick success is needed for the INEOS team if they are to be forgiven for propping up the Glazer regime at United.