Sir Jim Ratcliffe told to REBUILD Old Trafford as INEOS chief warned of huge project after Man Utd investment

MANCHESTER UNITED hero Lee Sharpe has warned new club chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe that he faces a “big project” after his recent investment.

And that includes an Old Trafford rebuild.

Ratcliffe has completed his long-awaited 25 per cent investment of United, pending final approval from the Premier League.

Sir Jim will be in charge of all sporting matters regarding the men’s and women’s teams along with the academy.

The Ineos chief is facing a massive task that includes improving Erik ten Hag’s struggling team and upgrading the club.

And Sharpe advised the 71-year-old to start by rebuilding Old Trafford to compete with Arsenal’s Emirates and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

United fans have repeatedly complained about the state of the Theatre of Dreams, which includes cracks on the ceiling that have led to water leaking through.

Former winger Sharpe also believes the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground needs a “refurb and a reshuffle”.

Ratcliffe is expected to invest £237million into the club’s infrastructure after his £1.3billion minority share takeover last month.

And Sharpe is confident Britain’s richest man can change the club’s fortunes along with Sir Dave Brailsford after they held a “positive” meeting with players and staff at Carrington last week.

But the former England international has warned Ratcliffe not to sack Ten Hag despite the Manchester giants’ turbulent campaign, which sees them sitting eighth in the Premier League and out of Europe..

Sharpe told SunSport on behalf of Fruityslots.com: “I think we’re looking for stability. I think stability, I think support. I think he’s already came in and gave everybody a bit of a pep talk and a bit of a motivational speech.

“I think everybody’s pleased to have him now. I think they like to see his sort of ambitions and his aims for the club. So it’ll be interesting to see what happens and how much input he actually has, and how much the manager can still retain his input.

“And how the manager keeps a strong say in transfers on who goes, who comes in and who goes out. So it’ll be interesting to see how the dynamic works.

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“But I think Jim Ratcliffe has already got them on a positive foot. Spoken to the players, spoken to the staff, and already had a bigger response than the Glaziers have had in 15 or 20 years they’ve been in charge.

“So you know, I don’t think it’s time to sack the manager just yet. Let’s hope that Sir Jim Ratcliffe can give the manager the support he needs and we can turn the results around.

“I think there’s a lot of things [that need to be done] I think the ground probably needs a rebuild to be fair.

“If It’s gonna keep up with the likes of the Emirates and the Tottenham Stadium and the things that are going on.

“Manchester United, you know, classify themselves as the biggest if not one of the biggest clubs in the world and they need the best facilities, the best ground.

“I think the training ground at Carrington probably needs a refurb and a reshuffle. They probably need a couple of players so it’s a big project. Brailsford has been in cycling, we’re not sure how that translates back to football.

“But he certainly did a great job with Great Britain cycle team, let’s hope he can do the same with the club.

“It’s all about relationships now and how they build those relationships and the manager has to have trust in in the people that are coming in above him.

“And then it’s about the manager laying down his foundations of how he sees the team playing, what sort of players he’s looking for.

“And for the people above him to go and get the players that he’s asked for.”

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk