Sports
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become the Glazers’ fireguard – and that suits them just fine
There are certain figures who hover into view at key moments of history, defining eras despite having little control over events.
You might remember Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who was dubbed by the UK media as ‘Comical Ali’ and became famous towards the end of the 2003 invasion of Iraq in his role as the country’s minister for information.
Al-Sahhaf offered bulletins throughout the conflict and as the Ba’ath Party’s position became worse, his messages became more optimistic. With rockets flying into Baghdad, according to Al-Sahhaf, the situation was well under control.
Saddam Hussein was nowhere to be seen. Everybody knew that everything happening was because of him and Al-Sahhaf’s front and centre presence instead gave an insight into just how useless the whole regime had become.
In fairness to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, at least he did not use one of his several media appearances this week to convince anyone that his football empire was not in danger of crumbling. Quite the opposite — the criticisms were meted out in liberal quantities, to a wide range of targets: a selection of unnamed senior players (“overpaid” and “not good enough”), former executives Richard Arnold and Ed Woodward (“Richard was a rugby man, he didn’t even understand football. Ed didn’t have the credentials to manage the club. He was a merchant banker, an accountant”), and even Ligue 1, with Ratcliffe saying he cannot bring himself to watch his other club, Nice, because “the level of football is not high enough for me to get excited”.
In fact, the only people Ratcliffe did not train his sights on were those most United fans deem culpable for the club’s decline — the Glazers, the U.S. family who, despite appearances, are the actual owners of the club courtesy of their 67.9 per cent controlling stake (the stake belonging to INEOS and its founder, Ratcliffe, is worth 28.94 per cent).
It was the Glazers who hired Arnold and Woodward, and the football executives who signed those apparently useless players. It was also on the Glazers’ watch that United’s financial position had, according to Ratcliffe on Monday, deteriorated to such an extent that the club was at risk of “going bust by Christmas”. Yet the main cause of that malaise — the crippling interest payments due on the £700million ($905.5m at current rates) worth of debt the Glazers’ leveraged buyout forced on United — also went curiously unmentioned.
Fans protest at the Glazers’ ownership (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Then again, maybe it isn’t quite so curious. Ratcliffe is not allowed to publicly attack the Glazers due to the non-criticism clauses he agreed to when his minority investment was sanctioned in December 2023.
In legal terms, as revealed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing made at the time, this meant neither Ratcliffe or the Glazers “shall in any manner, directly or indirectly, make, or cause to be made any public statement or announcement that relates to or constitutes an ad hominem attack on, criticises, or otherwise disparage” the other party.
Ratcliffe knows that, as the owner with the lower share, he has to find a way to work with his partners, hence why he is so disinclined to talk about them in public. They were barely mentioned in the round of interviews Ratcliffe did on Monday with some British newspapers, the BBC and Gary Neville’s Overlap podcast (The Athletic were not offered the chance to speak to him); the Sunday Times had more joy in prising some thoughts out of Ratcliffe in an article which appeared online on Saturday but, for the most part, he toed the corporate line.
He suggested there wasn’t a “bad bone” in Joel Glazer’s body and that the family were “old East Coast” Americans — “they’re very polite, they’re very civilised, they’re the nicest people on the planet”. The subtext was that the family are too nice to do what Ratcliffe thinks needs to be done — namely, take a chainsaw to a bloated workforce.
Yet there were hints that the relationship between Ratcliffe and the Glazers is hardly close, given his remark to the Sunday Times that “we bought in and haven’t seen them since” and that they have largely retreated “into the shadows”.
The Glazers’ reputation is so bad that no amount of PR will change how they are viewed by most United fans, and maybe Ratcliffe was trying to subtly create a bit of distance from himself and his ownership partners. But the net effect of his publicity drive this week is that it is Ratcliffe who is in the line of fire.
An artist’s impression of United’s new stadium plan (Manchester United/Foster + Partners)
If you knew absolutely nothing about United, and nothing about football, you would look at all the coverage and assume that Ratcliffe is operating as a somewhat frazzled lone wolf given the way he lurched from warnings about bankruptcy to laying out plans for one of the most ambitious stadium projects the game has ever seen inside 24 hours.
The Glazers — whose opinion on all this stuff matters most given their controlling stake — have not uttered a word. We don’t know what they think about moving into a new 100,000-seater stadium that, if Ratcliffe has his way, will take just five years to build and cost around £2bn. It is the most significant decision the club has made since the Glazers’ takeover nearly 20 years ago, but their names have not appeared at the bottom of any of the bubbly press releases, and they certainly have not put themselves forward for interviews.
Not that this is new. The 20th anniversary of their takeover falls in June and, across the last two decades, the Glazers have probably said less about the club and revealed less about themselves than Ratcliffe has in the last seven days alone.
It must be stressed, especially from a journalist’s perspective, that being available is much better than being absent. Yet for the time being, Ratcliffe is doing little more than acting as a useful fireguard for the Glazers
United supporters know who has most of the power and this explains why the focus of their protests has remained consistent. Yet the more a filterless Ratcliffe runs around, attempting to explain the world away, the more he risks receiving an equal share of the blame when things go wrong.
(Top photo: Avram Glazer with Sir Jim Ratcliffe; Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Dominiq Ponder died this weekend, the team’s head coach Deion Sanders confirmed on Sunday with a social media post.
“God please comfort the Ponder family, friends and loved ones,” Sanders wrote on social media. “Dom was one of my favorites! He was Loved, Respected & a Born Leader. Let’s pray for all that knew him & had the opportunity to be in his presence. Lord you’re receiving a good 1. Comfort us Lord Comfort us.”
Ponder was 23 years old.
Details of Ponder’s death are not yet known.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)
Ponder, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound signal caller, joined the Buffaloes and “Coach Prime’s” program in 2024 after spending time at Bethune-Cookman before making his way to Boulder.
Last season, Ponder played just two games for the Buffaloes while serving in his backup role. He recorded two rush attempts and one pass attempt.
The Opa Locka, Fla., native also received tribute from a fellow quarterback with the Buffaloes, Colton Allen.
Bethune-Cookman QB Dominiq Ponder takes a snap during the Wildcats’ spring game Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Daytona Stadium. (IMAGN)
“Dom, you were a blessing to so many people,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “You had a presence about you that just made everything better. You brought so much joy to me and everyone around you. I’m grateful for every lift, every practice, every rep, every conversation we got to share. I’ll carry those with me for the rest of my life.”
Ponder was going to be a part of Colorado’s spring practices, which are set to begin on Monday. It’s unknown if Sanders will postpone the start due to Ponder’s passing.
Ponder also received a tribute from the University of Central Florida.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (Tyler Tate/AP Photo)
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“Our prayers are with Dominiq and the Ponder family along with all in the Colorado football program,” the university’s football account on X wrote.
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Sunday was “Senior Night” for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.
Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds and five assists as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.
Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.
“These are two elite programs, we knew it would be different tonight, we knew they’d come with fire,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, who improved to 9-4 against the Trojans since counterpart Lindsay Gottlieb started at USC in 2021. “We knew we’d have to do it with our defense, our rebounding and by taking care of the ball.”
It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 17 times.
Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.
Charlisse Leger-Walker, nicknamed “X-ray vision” by teammates, equaled her season high with 20 points for the Bruins (28-1, 18-0) while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.
“Anytime we play together we know we can win,” Leger-Walker said. “We did a good job looking into the scout. Every game we just think about going 1-0. People scouting us know that all five players on the court can score the ball.”
UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
UCLA held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.
“Going undefeated [in conference] is a great step in the right direction towards what we want to accomplish,” said Jaquez, who appreciated the flowers she received before the game from USC. “I love this rivalry. It’s super fun to play against them and it was nice that they honored us too.”
UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.
USC (17-12, 9-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run but gave up 14 second-chance points and allowed 22 offensive rebounds.
UCLA guard Kiki Rice, front, and forward Angela Dugalic celebrate as USC guard Kennedy Smith walks away during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
“If we get more possessions than our opponent we’re most likely going to win,” Close said. “We didn’t allow one basket on an out-of-bounds play and they lead the conference in that.”
Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, USC’s leading scorer, got into early foul trouble but still finished with 12 points. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting in the first meeting.
“It was a great crowd, we were in the fight but we didn’t rebound or shoot well enough,” Gottlieb said. “We wanted to keep them out of our paint. We swarmed Betts, double-teamed her and got it out of her hands but other people scored.”
Londynn Jones, who spent three seasons in Westwood (playing in 108 straight games) before transferring to USC for her senior year, was held to six points in the team’s first meeting and nine points (on four-of-10 shooting) in the rematch. The Trojans’ other senior, Kara Dunn, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.
“I love Londynn,” Close said. “We think she looks better in blue, but we love her and I told her that. I appreciate all she gave to our programs.”
Asked if this is the best team she has ever coached, Close had a one-word answer.
“Yes.”
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Israel’s national gymnastics team has suspended all training and team activities amid the recent Iranian counter-attack on the country following the U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.
The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) provided a statement to Fox News Digital announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.”
“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.
“At this time, all training activities have been temporarily suspended, pending approval from the relevant authorities to safely resume operations. Naturally, the suspension of training and the closure of airspace are causing considerable stress and concern. However, the safety and well-being of our gymnasts and professional staff remain our highest priority. We sincerely hope for safer and calmer days ahead, when we can focus solely on sport.”
A source within the team told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began.
Israel’s gymnastics team is considered one of nation’s strongest Olympic programs alongside its Judo and sailing teams. The team is only a week removed from a successful trip at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany, where the country’s star Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in floor gymnastics.
Now, the team will have to seek safety until the attacks are over.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place either in or near their residences as Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel.
Additionally, the embassy announced that due to the security situation, it would be closed on March 2, and did not give an estimate on when it would be reopening. The closure includes consular sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
The embassy also said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It noted that Ben Gurion Airport remains closed and there there are neither commercial nor charter flights operating from the airport.
On Friday, ahead of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the embassy gave all non-essential workers permission to leave Israel, with reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged those looking to leave to do so as soon as possible.
Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem.
The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Initial reports said four people were killed when missiles landed in a residential area on Sunday, but that death toll rose to eight, according to Israel’s national emergency service.
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Iran’s military has carried out counterattacks against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after a joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
The strikes also killed several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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