So Jim, good to see you. Thank you for your time. How would you describe your first year as co-owner of Manchester United?
Well, I think we're sort of roughly where we thought we would be, but it's obviously been quite challenging because there's been a lot to do and quite a lot of issues in the club that we've needed to resolve.
You said it's kind of where you expected it to be, but is the challenge facing you even greater than you anticipated?
Yeah, I mean the nature of the challenge is what we thought it would be, but the scale of it probably is slightly bigger. We're sort of at the moment in the process of change because United obviously since Alex retired in 2013, the club's not performed at the level that's been expected of it, and there are reasons for that clearly. I think unless you want that to continue, there has to be a period of change, and we're in the middle of a period of change at the moment. Nobody likes change, it's uncomfortable, and we're in the midst of it.
You've said that you're aiming for the Premier League title again within three years by 2028. You've dubbed it Mission 21, a 21st title. When you look at the table, does it seem like Mission Impossible rather than Mission 21 right now?
No, I don't think it's Mission Impossible. I think it's good to have goals and objectives, and it's quite good to put a time frame rather than just a bland statement that at some stage we're going to win the Premier League again. I'm not Mystic Meg, I don't have a magic wand, I can't see into the future obviously. But I think if you look at Arsenal, you look at Liverpool, you look at the period of time it took them to get the house in order and get back to winning ways, that's probably maybe slightly on the short end of the spectrum, but it's not impossible.
But when you look at the table and you see yourself down in 14th, 36 points behind Liverpool, how does that make you feel?
Well, it's obviously not where we would like to be, but we are in a period of change. We haven't had much time to change the squad. We've got a new coach, he came in midseason, and we've got a long list of injuries. If I actually look at the squad that's available to Ruben, I think he's doing a really good job to be honest.
Have there been times over the past year, Jim, where you've regretted investing in United, regretted the transaction?
Yeah, no, not at all, no. I didn't expect it to be a walk in the park. It's quite tough sometimes reading the press obviously, but in a way I'd rather the press had a go at me than Ruben the coach. People are entitled to their opinions, but in my view I think we are on the trajectory that I thought we would be on. We're in a process of change at the moment. We put a new management team in place. We didn't get that all right at the beginning obviously, but I think today we've got a very good management team in place. We're dealing with the financial issues in the club because the club has got financial issues and we need to address those.
You mentioned criticism. There's been criticism as well from the media, but from fans too. You'll have seen the protests before the match against Arsenal. Do you understand those fans' anger?
Yeah, and I sympathize with them because Manchester United's not where it's expected to be. We're expected to be winning the Premier League and challenging for the Champions League, and we're not there at the moment. But I think we need to get the house back in order before we can get back to our winning ways, and that takes time, it's not a light switch. If you look at the players that we're buying this summer that we didn't buy, we're buying Antony, we're buying Casemiro, we're buying Onana, we're buying Hojlund, we're buying Sancho. These are all things from the past, but whether we like it or not, we've inherited those things and we have to sort that out. For Sancho who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we're paying £17 million to buy in the summer. So it takes time for us to move away from the past into a new place in the future.
To what extent are you still dealing with the problems of the past, or after a year though, is this on you to some extent now?
Manchester United would have run out of cash by the end of this year, by the end of 2025, after me having put $300 million in, if we buy no new players in the summer, if we hadn't implemented all the cost programs and restructurings that we have done over the last 12 months. I do feel sympathy with the fans, but I'm not actually surprised where we are in the league because Ruben's only got a certain size of squad he can do. Quite a number of those players are either injured or they're not available to him.
Do you accept that you've contributed to the predicament that the club finds itself in?
We're not perfect and we're on a journey, and there have been a couple of errors along the way. But I think in the main all the things that we're doing are the right things for the club, and the club's going to finish up in a very different place in three years' time to where it's been in the past, in my view. I think it will become the most profitable club in the world in three years' time, Manchester United will be, that would be my prediction. I think we may well finish up with the most iconic football stadium in the world, and I think we will finish up winning silverware again. But I think if we were to build the most iconic football stadium in the world, which I think we will do, then that will attract the billion fans we've got around the world. They'll all want to come to Manchester.
One of the reasons the fans were protesting was over ticket price increases. Explain again why you had to do that.
Our general principle on ticket pricing is it should be fair, it should be affordable for the people in Manchester, and we do need to look after the under-16s and the older people who don't have as much money. But at the same time, ticket income is a part of the overall income of the club.
Are they likely to be more increases for season tickets next season?
I think there will be some modest price increases, and I think we will try to hold the under-16 tickets at the prices that they were last season.
It's not just the ticket price increases, is it, Jim? It's also the cost cutting that you've instigated, and obviously there's been hundreds of redundancies last year and hundreds more to come. Again, why is there a need to do that?
I mean, the simple answer is the club runs out of money at Christmas if we don't do those things. But ultimately, if you look at running a club the size of Manchester United with income of about £650 million, you spend a part of that £650 on operating the club and a part of it on the squad. Where do you want to spend the money? Do you want to spend it on operating the club, or do you want to spend it on the squad?
Is there a danger that you cross the line between efficiency and ruthlessness that potentially could tarnish the name of United?
