When will Sir Jim Ratcliffe learn from his mistakes at Manchester United? | Sean Ingle
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Time will tell if Ratcliffe and Dave Brailsford can turn around the negative effect their decisions have had on the club. Remember when Manchester United jacked up the cost of tickets for members from around £40 to £66 for the rest of the season? And, for good measure, scrapped the £25 concession for children and asked them to pay full price too? Of course you do. It was barely six weeks ago, on 27 November.
![[Sean Ingle]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2017/10/09/Sean-Ingle,-L.png?width=180&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
But, without fanfare or it being reported anywhere, that policy has been quietly dropped for Thursday’s match against Southampton at Old Trafford, along with the Ipswich game next month. Adult tickets are now £48. Under-16s are £25. And the further cost to Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos’s reputation for competence? Incalculable.
![[Manchester United fans with a banner reading ‘Stop exploiting loyalty’]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e77773bf57245fbb2e5fc2fdd584c05d0631bbb6/0_0_4041_2404/master/4041.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
On the pitch there have been hugely encouraging signs for United over the past week. They were superb at Liverpool in the Premier League and they backed it up with a victory of extraordinary grit and spirit against Arsenal on Sunday. But as the one-year anniversary of Ineos’s takeover looms, can their fans have faith in their brains’ trust to deliver?.
![[Casemiro, André Onana and Harry Maguire look dejected during Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat by Newcastle.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9d3bb19319a00767a5c852d8e78975957fade510/0_174_2637_1582/master/2637.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Psychologists say there are four stages of learning a new skill. The lowest is unconscious incompetence. That’s where you don’t know how to do it – and, worse still, you even don’t realise it. At the second stage, you at least recognise you are incompetent. After that, you progress to showing competence but it requires focus. And then, finally, eureka: you perform a skill at a high level naturally.
