Grit, Rigour & Humour

The book tells us more about why Ratcliffe wants to buy Manchester United, how he would fund it and what an INEOS-run United would look like than anything produced in the past eight months of best-intentioned guesswork. * The Athletic *

Sir Jim Ratcliffe began his career at Exxon Chemicals where he completed his MBA at the London Business School. He moved to Courtaulds and in 1992 led the successful buyout of Inspec Group plc. He left in 1998 to acquire INEOS plc from Inspec and has been chairman of INEOS ever since. Under Sir Jim’s leadership, INEOS has grown to become one of the world’s biggest chemicals companies, while also expanding into oil and gas, automotive, sport and consumer goods.

Dominic O’Connell is the business presenter on Times Radio, having previously held the same with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He also writes a business column for The Times and was previously business editor of the Sunday Times for six years.

Quentin Willson is one of Britain’s best-known motoring media faces. He presented BBC Two’s Top Gear for fifteen years along with Channel 5’s Britain’s Worst Driver, The Classic Car Show and BBC Two’s The Car’s the Star.

Patrick Barclay began his career in football writing with the Guardian in Manchester in the mid-1970s, a few years after Sir Matt Busby had relinquished management and joined the Manchester United board. Barclay became one of Sir Matt’s many acquaintances in the newspaper world and in 1994, having moved to the Observer by way of the Independent, attended the unforgettable match against Everton at Old Trafford that swiftly followed the great man’s death. In that year Barclay was voted Britain’s leading sports writer.He later worked for the Sunday Telegraph, The Times and the Evening Standard in London before retiring from regular journalism at the end of his tenth European Championship in 2016. He covered nine World Cups. Barclay has written acclaimed biographies of Sir Matt’s successors Sir Alex Ferguson (Football - Bloody Hell!) and Jose Mourinho (Further Anatomy of a Winner) and is also the author of The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman.

Lord Sebastian Coe is the president of World Athletics, where he is serving his second term, and non-executive chairman of CSM Sport & Entertainment. As an athlete, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1500 metres in 1980 and 1984 and set twelve middle-distance world records.

Sir Andrew Likierman was dean of the London Business School for ten years from 2008 to 2017. He has also been a non-executive director for the Bank of England as well as Barclays, Beazley and the market research firm MORI.

Sean Keach is one of the world’s leading technology and science journalists, with over a decade of experience in the media industry. He is currently head of science and technology at the Sun and the U.S. Sun.

Award-winning broadcaster Steph McGovern is the presenter of the eponymous Steph’sPacked Lunch, broadcast daily on Channel 4. Prior to this, Steph worked in financialjournalism for over fifteen years and spent seven years as part of the BBC Breakfast family.