Sir Jim Ratcliffe says Manchester United buy-in is most exciting deal he has done

• Billionaire at Old Trafford for first time since agreement struck
• He expects Premier League to sign off on deal by mid-February

Sir Jim Ratcliffe says his involvement with Manchester United is the most exciting thing he has done and expects his partial takeover to be ratified by mid-February. The 71-year-old billionaire was at Old Trafford on Sunday to attend his first United match since agreeing to buy a 25% stake in the club.

Before kick-off against Tottenham, Ratcliffe spoke publicly for the first time since the Christmas Eve announcement of his deal. “It’s the first match for me since we sort of got there, if you like,” he said, introducing himself to members of the media in the press conference room.

“I am very excited to be here, but I can’t answer any questions, really, because that would be inappropriate, honestly. It’s a big match... we normally do well against Spurs!”

Asked whether his deal to come in at United was as exciting as anything he had edone, Ratcliffe smiled and said: “Correct. Yes. I have done a few exciting things, but this caps it all. There’s no question about that.”

Ratcliffe said this was his first match at Old Trafford for two to three years, mentioning Paul Scholes and Eric Cantona when asked about his favourite players. Ratcliffe thinks he was about 10 when he first watched United, where his Ineos group is preparing to take responsibility for footballing operations.

Ratcliffe plans to come “quite a lot” and expects ratification to arrive in the next month. “I think it’s three or four weeks,” he said. “Early Feb.” A colleague interjected saying “early-to-mid-Feb”, before Ratcliffe added with a laugh: “We hope they don’t find anything dodgy in our CV!”

Ratcliffe was unable to answer questions on specifics until the deal gets the final signoff, saying it would not be appropriate to say what his first impressions were. He also said he “can’t comment” when asked about his influence on the January transfer window and declined to answer what the biggest challenge was.

Asked how long he has had ambitions to be involved, he said: “A few years. It’s taken a few turns, as you know, along the road, but these things quite often do. It all turned out well in the end.”

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJ6fpMGjrculZmtoYml8q63NaGhtZ6Oev262yKZkq5mkmLmqssWeZKaZnpi1pr%2FTnqlmrZ6ewaawjJ2cmqRdory0wIyer5yhpJ67qA%3D%3D