Gary Lineker tears into Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe - 'Unpleasant human being'

Gary Lineker tears into Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe - 'Unpleasant human being' Sir Jim Ratcliffe was back in the headlines last week after criticising the UK Government's approach to immigration - before Manchester United slipped to another poor result Gary Lineker has branded Sir Jim Ratcliffe an 'unpleasant human being' - and that claimed the Manchester United co-owner is 'even worse than the Glazers'. It's the latest criticism to be levelled at Ratcliffe following a difficult weekend both inside and outside of football. On Saturday, the billionaire said that 'nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem' in the UK, having claimed earlier this year that the nation had been 'colonised by immigrants'. His comments prompted the Manchester United Muslim Supporters Club to call for Ratcliffe's exit, saying that the INEOS chairman 'must go'. Things didn't improve on Sunday, as United produced a woeful performance before rescuing a 1-1 draw at Fulham, who went into the match bottom of the Premier League table. Now Lineker has waded in with a stinging assessment of Ratcliffe and the club which he owns 28.94 per cent of after joining forces with the Glazer family in February 2024. "I look at Man United and I see problems coming down from the top," the England legend said on The Rest is Football podcast. FOLLOW OUR MAN UTD FB PAGE! Latest United news and more on our dedicated Facebook page "I must congratulate the Glazers on finding someone even worse than them that they can blame and getting him in there and getting all the stick: Jim Ratcliffe. "He's clearly... I don't think he's a particularly pleasant human being and it's a bit of shambles of a football club the way it's being run at the moment. So, well done to the Glazers on that one, deflecting everything away from them!" Lineker also made reference to another pressing issue for United, with 15-year-old wonderkid JJ Gabriel demanding to leave due to a lack of first-team opportunities. "It is a bit of a mess that club," the ex-striker continued. "You've got a ground that's falling apart, all sorts of complaints about various things. They're losing young teenagers, it looks like that [Gabriel leaving] is going to happen. "The results, the inconsistency seems to be back. They have backed the manager lots of times and it's not worked for them but there's got to be something dripping down from the top." Are Manchester United better off under Sir Jim Ratclife? Have your say in the comments section. It remains to be seen if Ratcliffe will row back on his comments, like when he offered a mealy-mouthed apology for his colonisation claim. Then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had urged the 73-year-old to apologise, calling Ratcliffe's words 'offensive and wrong'. Lineker didn't make much of the apology, saying: "The hypocrisy I find difficult. Obviously, Keir Starmer has called for him to make an apology; whether he will or not remains to be seen. "I watched it and the hypocrisy really - the guy's a migrant himself, an economic migrant [because] he lives in Monaco. You can have a gripe all you like, but at least be here, pay taxes, and contribute to our society. "I would say a lot of these migrants who come in contribute enormously and facts show you that in terms of revenue and paid tax. Whereas Jim out there, in Monaco, is doing everything he can to avoid paying tax, I would suggest. "Also, you're one of the owners of Manchester United, a club that has a lot of players from overseas. When he's talking about colonised with immigrants, is it okay that you're a white person living abroad, not a brown or black person? I don't know, only he can answer that question. "Lots and lots of my friends who support United have come on and said similar things to what I'm saying now, they're very disappointed. Look at the story of [how] Amad has ended up here. So I find it deeply concerning that an owner of a football club can say that sort of thing." Over the weekend, the petrochemicals mogul spoke in Denmark at the launch of the EU's first carbon capture and storage system. It was there where Ratcliffe stated that he'd lost confidence in the UK, adding: "We had the greatest empire in the world. We were a great people. We won two world wars." He went on to say: "Nobody's tough enough to deal with the immigration problem. Nobody's tough enough to deal with the benefits problem. But somebody needs to do it." Join our new MAN UTD WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Manchester United content from Mirror Football. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.