The text has appeared overnight
A huge billboard appearing to criticise Manchester United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone up outside Old Trafford. The poster, seemingly put up overnight, can be seen outside the stadium close to the Alex Ferguson stand.
It reads ‘Immigrants have done more for this city than billionaire tax dodgers ever will.’
As of yet, it is unclear who is behind the billboard, which follows several controversial comments made by the billionaire businessman, who owns a stake in Manchester United.
Ratcliffe made headlines following an interview with Sky News on Wednesday (February 11), in which he claimed the UK was being ‘colonised’ by immigrants. He later apologised for his ‘choice of language‘, which was widely criticised, and said it was important to ‘raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth’.
The club also said in a statement that they ‘pride themselves’ on being ‘an inclusive and welcoming club’.
“Our diverse group of players, staff and global community of supporters, reflect the history and heritage of Manchester; a city that anyone can call home,” it read.
Manchester United would have been left with just three players on its starting line-up, and two on its bench without its immigrant players, the Mirror found.
The Sunday Times Rich List previously estimated that Ratcliffe, who is founder of petrochemicals firm INEOS, is worth £17 billion and was one of the UK’s richest men, the Mirror reported. In 2020, two years after he was knighted for “services to business and investment”, he officially changed his tax residence, switching from Hampshire to Monaco.
He was previously one of the UK’s biggest taxpayers, having contributed an estimated £110 million to the public purse between 2017 and 2018, placing him atop the Sunday Times Rich lists and fifth on the publication’s Tax List.
Monaco is a sovereign city state tax haven outside France, where authorities do not levy taxes on income, wealth or property, and the decision, at the time, was believed to have allowed Ratcliffe up to save up to £4 billion if he stayed there more than 183 days a year.
Manchester United was approached for comment. INEOS declined to comment.