Fan fury grows, with Man U supporters accusing tycoon of echoing ‘far-right narratives’ which have ‘real-world’ affect.
Printed On 12 Feb 2026
Manchester United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe is going through a rising backlash after claiming this week that the UK had been “colonised by immigrants”, stoking an already poisonous ambiance in Britain, pushed by these on the fitting of the political spectrum.
Politicians, campaigners and fan teams condemned the billionaire’s remarks made in an interview with Sky Information broadcast on Wednesday, which noticed him recommend “big ranges of immigration” had broken the economic system.
Really useful Tales
listing of 4 objectsfinish of listing
“You may’t have an economic system with 9 million individuals on advantages and big ranges of immigrants coming in,” he stated, prompting Prime Minister Keir Starmer to demand on X that he apologise for his “offensive and mistaken” feedback.
Posting on X on Thursday, Better Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, a member of Starmer’s Labour Party, stated Ratcliffe ought to withdraw his “inaccurate, insulting, inflammatory” depiction of immigrants as “a hostile invading pressure”.
Burnham famous that footballers who had come from all around the world to play in Manchester and folks working within the Nationwide Well being Service (NHS) and different important companies had “enhanced the lifetime of our city-region”, suggesting that Monaco-based Ratcliffe had “spent years siphoning wealth” out of the membership whereas making “little contribution” to native life.
Justice minister Jake Richards instructed the BBC’s breakfast programme that he considered the tax exile’s feedback as “absurd”. “Jim Ratcliffe has moved to Monaco to save lots of 4-billion-pound [$5.5bn] price of tax on this nation. One may query whether or not he’s the patriot we have to touch upon this problem,” he stated.
Current protests towards the membership’s possession will now possible develop.
Manchester United Muslim Supporters Membership expressed outrage at Ratcliffe’s use of the phrase “colonised”, with its echoing of “far-right narratives that body migrants as invaders and demographic threats”.
“Such rhetoric has real-world penalties,” stated the group, pointing to a latest rise in race-motivated hostility that has coincided with surging assist for the Reform UK occasion.
Rhetoric round immigration has hardened lately, with a wave of protests final summer season outdoors accommodations housing asylum seekers and widespread rioting in 2024, prompted by misinformation that an adolescent who killed three young girls was a Muslim immigrant.
Different fan golf equipment piled on extra condemnation of Ratcliffe, with the Rainbow Devils membership for LGBTQ supporters expressing fears that his phrases may trigger “actual injury” to “minority communities on the whole, together with many loyal Manchester United followers who’re immigrants”.
The Manchester United Supporters’ Belief identified that the membership’s management “ought to make inclusion simpler, not tougher”.
Ratcliffe, who based chemical big Ineos in 1998, purchased a minority share in Manchester United in late 2023, subsequently resulting in anger amongst followers over hovering ticket costs.
