Manchester United were supposed to be the jewel in the Ineos sporting crown after Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed his share purchase at his boyhood club.

Instead, the empire appears tattered, with one stand-out exception.

Ineos' three football clubs are currently assailed from all sides, while cycling success feels like a long time ago and his relationship with New Zealand's All Blacks has long since disintegrated.

But the outfit that is going around in circles is sprinting ahead of the chasing pack, with a youthful Italian star at the wheel.

MANCHESTER UNITED

When Ratcliffe celebrated his successful £1.3bn bid to take a 27 per cent stake but day-to-day control of United in early 2024 he set out his vision.

Sitting in Ineos' Knightsbridge office base, he promised, “The fans would run out of patience if it was a 10-year plan.”

“To think that we're going to be playing football as good as Manchester City played against Real Madrid last year by next season is not sensible.”

“If we give people false expectations, then they will get disappointed. But it's certainly a three-year plan to get there. The key thing is our trajectory, so that people can see that we're making progress.”

More than two and a half years on, United are back in the Champions League but on their third full-time manager in addition to caretakers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Darren Fletcher.

And it looks only a matter of time before Michael Carrick is jettisoned as well, probably during the looming international break next month.

The frustration and anger aimed at United's miserable performances, which mark their worst start to a league season in 40 years, continue while fans remain furious over a ticketing clampdown that has drawn street protests.

Seven points from eight Prem games, an early Carabao Cup exit and the recent shellacking by Champions League rookies Como have added to the pressure and scrutiny on Carrick and the club.

LAUSANNE SPORTS

The Swiss side were the first brick in the Ineos wall in 2017, with the petrochemicals giant promising continuing investment in youth and community sports in the area.

Now Ineos are looking to sell up, with a sales pitch sent out to potential investors.

The reality is that it has not been a successful tenure.

Within six months of the takeover, Lausanne were relegated and have since become something of a yo-yo club despite moving to a new 13,000-capacity home.

While 2024-25 saw them qualify for European football for the first time, their Conference League run ended at the first knock-out stage, edged out by the odd goal over two legs by Czechs Sigma Olomouc.

Last term saw them in the bottom six play-off stage, although comfortably avoiding the drop, but this season they are bottom with a single win and three draws from their first 11 games.

NICE

Fan protests last season were brutal, with anger over Ineos' stewardship leading to players being attacked by supporters, a run of eight straight defeats and their Allianz Riviera home closed by the French authorities.

Former Chelsea winger Jeremie Boga opted to leave for Juventus after being one of the players who came under a fusillade of blows.

Former Southampton and Leicester boss Claude Puel's return to the club in December lasted only until the end of the season, despite keeping them in Ligue 1 by a full eight points.

He was replaced by Olivier Pantaloni, on the club's books as a youth team striker 40 years ago, who has sparked a turnaround with three wins in the last four games lifting the club from the relegation zone to 10th.

Meanwhile, despite putting out sale feelers two years ago with an asking price of around £210m, bidders have failed to appear.

Ineos now want nearer £125m, but financial experts in France believe the real value, given the collapse of the Ligue 1 TV market, is barely 40 per cent of that.

MERCEDES F1

Nobody could deny the success and dominance of the Brackley-based team, with Kimi Antonelli purring to his first F1 crown and team-mate George Russell his closest challenger.

The Italian is set to become the youngest F1 world champion in Mexico this weekend after dominating the season with nine wins from 18 races, while Russell has topped the podium three times.

Ineos became Mercedes' principal partner in a five-year £100m deal signed in 2020 and by the end of the year had taken a one-third stake in the team.

That shareholding is now valued at a staggering £1.52bn and the champagne is flowing, after a sticky spell which saw the departure of team leader Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari in 2025.

Claims last year that Ratcliffe was looking to cut his ties proved incorrect and Ineos are reaping the rewards for sticking with team principal Toto Wolff.

NETCOMPANY-INEOS

A rebranding of the former Ineos Grenadiers, itself previously Team Sky, in April brought a new lycra colour scheme and a five-year £87m co-title partnership.

So far, though, the golden days of the past seem as far away as ever.

This season saw just one stage win across the three Grands Tours of La Vuelta, Italy's Giro and the Tour de France.

The team's last major road triumph was Colombian Egan Bernal winning the 2021 Giro.

Expectations are high, with former Tour de France winner and director of racing Geraint Thomas predicting success is now within sight.

INEOS RACING

The bitter fallout with Team GB sailing legend Sir Ben Ainslie over their broken America's Cup partnership shows no signs of ending soon after the latest legal skirmish.

Failed attempts to win the trophy for the UK for the first time ended with Ainslie and fellow Olympic gold medallist Dylan Fletcher outsailed by New Zealand in 2024.

After initially announcing a third bid without Ainslie's involvement, Ineos withdrew from contention last year.

But Ainslie and his GB1/Athena Racing team, backed by Oakley Capital, want to use the same AC75 boat, leading to the court case.

A High Court battle is ongoing, with a peace offering by Ainslie rejected by Ineos lawyers last month, with Ratcliffe's legal team still claiming ownership of the assets of the 2024 campaign, including the craft which is in Athena's hands.

NEW ZEALAND ALL BLACKS

Ineos were announced as the All Blacks' performance partner in a six-year total £24m deal in 2021.

By February 2025, New Zealand Rugby launched a legal case alleging breach of contract after announcing Ineos had failed to pay the first instalment of the 2025 sponsorship fee, confirming its decision to exit the agreement.

Ratcliffe, who argued the global chemicals industry was a tough place to operate, slammed the Kiwis over their unwillingness to find a compromise.

The bid to be the company behind the first sub-two-hour marathon was successful when Kenyan superstar Eliud Kipchoge covered the 26 miles in Vienna in 1:59:40.2 in 2019.

That did not count as an official world record as he was allowed a series of pace-setters and it was not an open event.

Fellow Kenyan Sebastian Sawe subsequently ran an official 1:59:30 at this year's London Marathon.