{"id":475227,"date":"2026-02-12T14:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/475227\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T14:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:11:08","slug":"fa-to-look-at-whether-jim-ratcliffe-broke-football-rules-by-saying-uk-colonised-by-immigrants-manchester-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/475227\/","title":{"rendered":"FA to look at whether Jim Ratcliffe broke football rules by saying UK \u2018colonised\u2019 by immigrants | Manchester United"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Football Association will look at whether Jim Ratcliffe brought the game into disrepute through his claims that the UK has been \u201ccolonised\u201d by immigrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Manchester United co-owner, a billionaire based in Monaco, caused widespread anger with his comments and has been called on by Keir Starmer to apologise<\/a>. His remarks have not gone unnoticed within the FA, which will examine further before deciding whether he has broken any rules.<\/p>\n

It is too early to say whether any formal investigation will follow. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter that our legal and regulation team are working to,\u201d the FA\u2019s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, said.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday, Ratcliffe took aim at people receiving state support and immigrants. \u201cYou can\u2019t afford \u2026 you can\u2019t have an economy with 9 million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in,\u201d he said. \u201cThe UK is being colonised by immigrants, really, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe also cited incorrect figures concerning the UK\u2019s population. Football organisations have joined politicians and other public figures in condemning his comments and their tone. On Thursday Ratcliffe said he was sorry<\/a> that his \u201cchoice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

An earlier statement from Show Racism the Red Card said: \u201cLanguage of this kind echoes narratives that have historically been used to stigmatise migrant communities, fuel division, and legitimise hostility towards minority groups. Club influence should be used to challenge racism, not inadvertently amplify narratives that undermine community harmony.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kick it Out, the anti-discrimination body, described Ratcliffe\u2019s words as \u201cdisgraceful and deeply divisive\u201d. In a statement, it said: \u201cIn addition to the inaccurate figures mentioned, it\u2019s worth reminding him that Manchester United<\/a> has a diverse fanbase and plays in a city whose cultural history has been enriched by immigrants. This type of language and leadership has no place in English football, and we believe most fans will feel the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Manchester United Muslim Supporters Club also criticised Ratcliffe. \u201cManchester United is a global club built on diversity \u2013 on players, staff and supporters from every background, faith and ethnicity,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cThe strength of our club, and of our country, lies in that diversity. We stand with all communities who reject racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and hatred in all its forms, and we call for leadership that unites rather than divides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe\u2019s handling of United, who are fourth in the Premier League, has drawn fierce criticism from fans. Their high-profile appointment of Ruben Amorim as head coach was a failure and the team are being led by Michael Carrick until the end of the season.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the United supporters\u2019 group the 1958 criticised Ratcliffe\u2019s intervention and his decision to comment \u201con the issues of our country while living in Monaco to avoid paying tax\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe bought a minority share in United in 2023 and has been labelled an \u201cincompetent clown\u201d by fans over his handling of football operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Football Association will look at whether Jim Ratcliffe brought the game into disrepute through his claims that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-475227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}