Manchester United's Muslim Fans Turn on Ratcliffe After Second Immigration Row in Seven Months

Manchester United's Muslim Supporters' Club (MUMSC) has issued a formal "statement of no confidence" calling for co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe to quit the club, after he told the BBC that the UK is "on the slide" from its imperial past. It is the second time in under a year that the billionaire has made inflammatory comments about immigration and national decline while overseeing football operations at one of the Premier League's most ethnically diverse institutions the Guardian reports.

The group, which represents Muslim fans, staff and stewards connected to the club, says it has "lost confidence in the current ownership structure of Manchester United Football Club" and wants both Ratcliffe and the Glazer family gone. BBC Sport confirms the statement was posted on X and describes it as demanding Ratcliffe "must go".

What Ratcliffe said, and why it detonated

Speaking on BBC News's Big Boss Interview, Ratcliffe painted a bleak picture of contemporary Britain, invoking imperial nostalgia to frame the country's present problems.

"We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars. We're good, honest folk. But unfortunately, at the moment, I think the UK is on the slide. It's quite difficult to see how we arrest it," Ratcliffe said according to the Guardian.

Immigration and 'wealth creators' back in his crosshairs

Ratcliffe also argued the UK has developed "a bit of a green eye towards wealth", claiming high taxes are "encouraging" wealthy people to leave the country. He contrasted this with the United States, where he said people who create wealth are applauded rather than driven out.

The comments land awkwardly given Ratcliffe's own circumstances. The INEOS founder has lived in Monaco, which operates a relaxed tax regime, since 2020, meaning a man who left the UK's tax system is now lecturing the country on driving away its "wealth creators".

The framing also runs into economic reality. The UK's tax burden has climbed to roughly 35.3% of GDP, its highest level since the Second World War, but the Office for Budget Responsibility says this remains below the average across 14 western European economies, according to the figures cited by the Guardian.

A pattern, not a slip: Ratcliffe's history of inflammatory remarks

MUMSC's anger is not a reaction to an isolated comment. Ratcliffe's latest remarks come seven months after he told Sky News that Britain was being "colonised by immigrants", a comment for which he later said he was sorry "if those remarks had offended some people".

MUMSC says the same mistake has been repeated

The supporters' group says it directly challenged Ratcliffe over the February comments and believed the message had landed. It clearly had not.

"We hoped a lesson had been learned. Clearly, it has not. This week, Sir Jim has again placed immigration and people receiving benefits at the centre of his explanation for Britain's problems, arguing that nobody is 'tough enough' to deal with either. We find these latest comments deeply disappointing and completely unacceptable," MUMSC said in its statement, reported by the Guardian.

Identity of the club at stake

MUMSC's statement goes further than criticising a single remark, arguing that the diversity Ratcliffe appears to disparage is fundamental to what the club actually is.

"Our players, staff, stewards, security teams and supporters come from different countries, cultures, ethnicities, religions and backgrounds. Manchester United would not be Manchester United without them. Manchester United does not belong emotionally to investment funds, shareholders or billionaires," the group said.

Ratcliffe's combative streak has not been confined to immigration. He has also attacked the government's refusal to grant further North Sea drilling licences for the Jackdaw and Rosebank gasfields, calling the decision "insanity" and warning the UK could "run out of gas" in a cold winter, per the Guardian's reporting. A government spokesperson told the BBC it did not foresee supply problems and pointed to a "diverse energy mix".

Fans versus owners: the wider unravelling at Old Trafford

Ratcliffe and INEOS bought a 27.7% stake in Manchester United in 2024 and now control football operations, while the Glazer family remain majority owners, a structure both BBC Sport and the Guardian confirm in their reporting. That dual-ownership arrangement has done little to insulate either party from supporter fury.

685 season tickets revoked, protests follow

The immigration row lands on top of an already toxic summer at Old Trafford. The club's ticket-touting crackdown ultimately stripped 685 fans of their season tickets, prompting protests from supporter groups including the 1958, according to the Guardian's account.

• 27.7% INEOS stake acquired in 2024, with Ratcliffe overseeing football operations
• 685 season tickets revoked in the summer 2026 crackdown
• 450 club employees previously made redundant under Ratcliffe's cost-cutting
• Two separate immigration controversies in seven months

Ratcliffe was already deeply unpopular among the Old Trafford faithful before this latest row, having overseen ticket price rises and the redundancy of 450 club staff. MUMSC's statement explicitly links the immigration comments to what it calls "years of decline, broken promises and repeated failure" under the current ownership, rather than treating the remarks as a standalone controversy.

Two accounts, one story

The Guardian and BBC Sport both confirm the substance of MUMSC's statement and its central demand that Ratcliffe "must go", with no material discrepancy between the two accounts beyond emphasis: the Guardian situates the row within Ratcliffe's tax residency and the OBR's economic data, while BBC Sport foregrounds MUMSC's direct quote and the club's ownership structure. Together, the coverage points to a supporter base that sees the immigration comments as symptomatic of a deeper governance problem rather than a communications misstep.

What happens next

Manchester United has not issued a public response to MUMSC's statement, and there is no indication in current reporting that Ratcliffe intends to step back from his role overseeing football operations. The Glazer family, still the club's majority owners, face no formal mechanism by which fan disapproval alone could force change in ownership structure.

The bigger question is whether MUMSC's intervention galvanises broader supporter action, following the pattern set by protests over the season-ticket revocations earlier in the summer. With United already navigating a difficult rebuilding period on the pitch, further reputational damage off it risks compounding pressure on an ownership group that shows little sign of loosening its grip.