Pep Guardiola explains why Sir Jim Ratcliffe will make Man Utd successful
- Sir Jim Ratcliffe has purchased 25% stake in Man Utd
- Billionaire wants to dethrone Man City and Liverpool at top of English football
- Pep Guardiola believes Ratcliffe will make Red Devils a powerhouse again
By Sean Walsh
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Sir Jim Ratcliffe will help lead Manchester United back to success due to his experience and competitiveness.
Ratcliffe and his INEOS chemicals company have purchased a 25% stake in United and he will largely oversee footballing operations at Old Trafford.
Omar Berrada has swapped City for United and will join the Red Devils as their new CEO, while the club are hoping to appoint Newcastle's Dan Ashworth as sporting director.
At a press conference ahead of City's trip to Bournemouth on Saturday, Guardiola insisted he is not necessarily worried about United threatening his side, but backed Ratcliffe to prove a success.
"It's not about [being] worried [about United]," Guardiola said. "I'm pretty sure with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the other people that United [are] going to take a step forward.
"I feel that they know exactly what they have to do, appoint the people they need to appoint with their experience in the business world to make projects better.
"When I've been below teams I've always admired them and thought about what we need to do to be close, to challenge them. These are real competitive people. If they want to be judged on things they are comfortable with they will not arrive where we are now."
Earlier this week, Ratcliffe echoed Sir Alex Ferguson's famous sentiment of wanting to knock Liverpool, as well as City, 'off their perch'.
When asked if he felt flattered by Ratcliffe's praise of City, Guardiola replied: "It's the truth. As much as the teams admit it, they will be closer to us. If they want to deny it for things that are not the reality then it's their problem. It's not our problem.
"When we were below and United were winning, we were watching them, admiring them. We wanted to learn from them.
"The period of Sir Alex Ferguson - the generation with Roy Keane, David Beckham, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and all those big players - I'm pretty sure City admired and thought we want to be there. Now we are there.
"That's why, for these type of comments, that I have the feeling that they will be back."
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