TOTD EXTRA: Mission Impossible?

Talk of the Devils: The Athletic FC's Manchester United show

The Athletic

Sports, Soccer,

4.6 • 639 Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sir Jim Ratcliffe's investment in Manchester United with INEOS has brought a welcome re-focusing on sporting achievement as opposed to commercial success. Project 150, encompassing Mission 21 and Mission 1, sets out a clear ambition to have the men's and women's teams winning their respective leagues by 2028, the club's 150th anniversary.

Does this statement of intent, now public knowledge, help channel the attentions and efforts of the club's staff? And is there conflict with recent cost-cutting measures? Chief Executive Omar Berrada is undoubtedly one of the architects of this scheme and responsible for its execution but what about Sir Dave Brailsford, who has no clear job title at Manchester United, and Sir Jim himself?

We attempt to get to the bottom of it all, and assess how likely the club are to achieve their objectives, with Ian, Andy, Laurie, and Athletic Senior Writer Oli Kay.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Cricket. It's built for big moments. And Betfair is built for cricket. For the one-handed
0:07.1	catches. The wicket-taking deliveries. The runouts, reviews, ramp shots and sweeps for every
0:15.6	swash-buckling, six-hating match-turning moment and for every umpire's call we're following all the drama that this
0:23.5	england v india test match is delivering are you bet fair eighteen plus gamblerware to talk
0:29.8	the athletic fc pfc podcast network The Athletic FC Podcast Network Hello and welcome.
0:40.3	Hello and welcome to the second edition of Talk of the Devils Extra.
1:00.1	If you didn't catch the first one, it was on United Striker situation, which hasn't exactly improved since.
1:05.8	So go back and have a listen to that if you've not done already.
1:09.0	Extra is going to be a twice monthly bonus pod,
1:11.9	giving us the opportunity to get deeper into the biggest Manchester United
1:15.5	stories on the Athletic.
1:17.6	Today, we're looking at the future direction and ambition of the leadership team at
1:21.7	Altrafford, just over a year on, from Ineos's investment in United.
1:25.9	They've launched the Mission 21 and Mission 1 projects to turn the men's and women's senior
1:31.6	teams into title winners, hopefully in time, for the club's 150th anniversary in 2028.
1:38.7	And my goodness, does it feel like a lot of work that needs to be done to turn those
1:43.5	dreams into a reality.
1:45.4	We've got Andy Mitten and Laurie Whitwell with us for this one.
1:48.9	Olly Kay will be joining us in a short while as well.
1:51.9	He's been writing about Dave Balesford's role in all of this.
1:55.4	But first of all, Laurie, can we just explain exactly for anyone who doesn't know
1:58.8	what Mission 21 and Mission 1 are.
	...

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