Sir Jim Ratcliffe insists that he will NOT rename Old Trafford should he become Manchester United's new owner.
The boyhood United supporter has described such a move as "heresy," as he outlined his plans for a potential takeover. Ratcliffe, 70, is competing against Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, with current owners the Glazer family still undecided on selling the club - nine months after putting United on the market.
Bidding through his giant petrochemical company INEOS, who already boast multiple sporting enterprises - such as owning French club Nice and being the principal sponsor of F1 team Mercedes - Ratcliffe hopes to make key changes at Old Trafford should he win the race. However, he won't rename Old Trafford for the sake of extra revenue.
"I hadn't thought of that, but no," the Manchester-born billionaire, recently named as the UK's second richest person, is quoted as saying. "That would be heresy. I would not change it. It's always Old Trafford."
In 2011, United emphatically declared that they had no plans to sell Old Trafford's naming rights. Eight years later, though, ex-captain Gary Neville suggested that the Glazers should consider renaming the club's 113-year-old home.
"I would sell the naming rights to Old Trafford if I was at Manchester United for £60, £70, £80 million-a-year," Neville told former Liverpool striker Stan Collymore's podcast, The Last Word. "On the understanding that all of the money generated - £800m over 10 years - would mean that the whole of the Stratford end would be £10 or £12 to get in, and a proportion of those tickets would go to young people.
"It's the first time I've made that suggestion, but I've thought it for many, many years. You would consult with the fans, you've sold sponsorships in every other area of the club. Old Trafford is an iconic stadium in name. I'll never change calling it Old Trafford.
"But for the sake of it, let's say you sponsor it for £80 million-a-year, and you call it 'Stan Collymore's Old Trafford' or the 'Jamie Carragher Arena' it would subsidise ticket prices for 10 years and it would be wonderful. It would allow the communities of Stretford, Salford, Broughton, of Ordsall, to get into Old Trafford for the price of a Costa Coffee."
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As for the status of Ratcliffe's bid, the INEOS founder and chief executive confirmed: "We have a good offer and we have met with the Glazers a couple of times. We have had good discussions with them.
"We would still very much like to do it. And we would be doing it for the right reasons. But in the end it is their decision not our decision."
Ratcliffe added: "Teams don't come around very often. There are some special teams and the value of them tends to go up. The value of teams like this one is very special and rare - like art. I don't think the world of sport will change that much in 10 years."
