An artist's impression of Manchester United’s new stadium. Photo courtesy of MUFC

Paul Kennedy

The Manchester United public relations bandwagon has been in overdrive, rolling at full pelt over the last few days.

First, their billionaire part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe went on the charm offensive, or should that be defensive, with a number of ‘warts and all’ sit-downs with top TV sports reporters, and Gary Neville.

From the ones I watched, Sir Jim didn’t exactly come out of them smelling of roses. Instead he seemed a bit squirmy, and not very sympathetic when discussing some of the radical cutbacks and redundancies he’s made since taking over.

I wouldn’t quite go to the lengths of comparing him to Elon Musk, but he wasn’t far off it.

Then just a day or two later, United dished up their plans for a new, all singing, all dancing super-stadium to replace Old Trafford and regenerate the entire region.

Sir Jim said it would be the pride of the north of England, it would make Manchester the envy of the world when it comes to stadia, and would blow the likes of Wembley out of the park.

So why he made the announcement in London, and not Manchester some 321 kilometres away, is totally beyond me.

The new stadium, to be fair, looks fantastic, although it does slightly resemble a circus big top tent, and I’ve no doubt if it is completed on time it will be an amazing venue.

But let’s not beat around the bush here. United are, for want of a better phrase, skint. They are somewhere in the region of $1 billion in debt. Ratcliffe himself admitted in one of his interviews that the money he put into the club has almost run out, and with the team currently sitting 14th in the Premier League, the chance of big money revenue from playing in the Champions League seems an awfully long way away.

I’ve no idea how they will pay the $2 billion the stadium will cost, especially since Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham this week insisted no public money will be used.

What else I thought interesting, was Sir Jim referred to his dream of seeing Manchester United become the most profitable football club in the world.

Profitable, he said, not successful.

He’s worth somewhere in the region of $16 billion, and at the age of 72, I wonder why he’s not just living out his golden years lying on a sun-kissed beach somewhere in the Caribbean, moving only to click his fingers when ordering another pina colada.

I sure as hell would be.

But I guess Sir Jim truly believes he can achieve his promises, and indeed make United the most profitable football club in the world.

Why else would he bother? VNS