Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to miss Manchester United’s FA Cup semi-final clash against Coventry City on Sunday.
The billionaire, who recently bought a minority stake in the club, has been seen at several Red Devils games already since his purchase. He was last spotted in the stands at Old Trafford as United clinched a dramatic 2-2 draw against Liverpool
Ratcliffe would surely have wanted to be at Wembley to watch his new club’s biggest game of the season, with the FA Cup being their only shot at silverware. But the INEOS chief, 71, will literally be in a race against time to make the tie as he is running the London Marathon.
READ MORE: Lord Seb Coe makes vow to Man Utd fans over Sir Jim Ratcliffe's £4bn 'Wembley of the North'
READ MORE: Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirms John Murtough's Man Utd exit after questioning transfer deals
Sky Sports is bringing you 500 live football games to watch, as well access to Cricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA and more across eight dedicated channels. Sky Sports is the only way to watch all the action this year.
£22 a month
SkyThe marathon gets underway at 10am, while United's clash with Coventry is set to start at 3.30pm following a change based on police advice. That means Ratcliffe will have to beat his personal best time by a significant margin to make it to his seat at Wembley in time for the game.
He powered through a hamstring injury last year to complete the marathon in four hours and 32 minutes. A similar performance means he would have less than an hour to recover and get to Wembley for the match.
A series of road closures in central London will add to his challenges, reports the Express. It comes after Ratcliffe confirmed his participation in the London Marathon earlier this year while discussing his passion for distance running on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast.
When quizzed about how many marathons he has completed, Ratcliffe revealed: "It's somewhere approaching 40. My project certainly doesn't have a one in it! I did London last year, I did four and a half [hours]. I'm doing London again this year. It's only six weeks away.
"I trained for London last year and I had a hamstring issue. I was out for five weeks and I didn't have much time to retrain. I went to Africa, it was quite warm and I had a go. It was okay. Exactly the same thing has happened this year. I've had five weeks out with a hamstring so I only started training a week ago for London. It's not very long. I need to get going."
Whether Ratcliffe can make it to Wembley in time remains to be seen. The Red Devils were the previous year's runners-up, having been bested by Manchester City in the final as Ilkay Gundogan netted twice either side of Bruno Fernandes' penalty.
