Former mastermind of Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers set to scale back involvement with Manchester United
Dave Brailsford at a football match(Image credit: Getty Images)
British and US media have reported that Dave Brailsford is due to step back from his involvement in the Manchester United Football Club, with a corresponding increase in his work as Director of Sport at Ineos and a potential return to a more prominent role in the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team on the cards.
Brailsford was widely considered to be the mastermind of British Cycling and Team Sky's success in the past decade. However, he stepped down as Ineos Grenadiers Team Principal and has been heavily involved in the overhaul of the football team when a 25% minority share of Manchester United was bought by Ineos owner Jim Ratcliffe, he stepped down in 2023.
According to The Times, despite cutting back on commitments in other sports like rugby and yachting and after a particularly challenging 2024-2025 season for United, Ratcliffe's interest in his company's cycling team remains intact.
The reshuffling of top sports management positions in the Ineos/United organigram would apparently see Brailsford shifting some of his focus back onto the WorldTour squad he helped create back in 2010.
This could be with a view to overseeing Geraint Thomas' reported move into an as-yet unspecified senior management role at Ineos Grenadiers once the Welsh star retires after the Tour of Britain this September.
In an interview with Cyclingnews during the Giro, Ineos Grenadiers performance director Scott Drawer said that "We’d be crazy not to think about Geraint being part of the team in the future. Geraint’s got unique skills that we don’t have. We’d like to tap into what Geraint knows."
After a dismal 2024, Ineos Grenadiers have seen a marked uptick in their success rate in 2025. They recently won a stage in the Giro d'Italia and have captured five other WorldTour victories this year, with their 14 triumphs to date as many as they took in the whole of the 2024 season.
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No marginal gains, just major losses for Ineos and Manchester United
Brailsford pictured with Ratcliffe (right) at a Manchester United game (Image credit: Getty Images)
When Ratcliffe became co-owner of three-time European champions Manchester United and took over sporting control of the football club, Brailsford joined the board in a bid to help the club rediscover its title-winning success.
He led the club's 'Mission 21' and Mission 1' projects, which aim to deliver a 21st top-flight title for the men's side, which would be their first since 2012, alongside a first Women's Super League title.
While a third-place league finish does qualify the women's squad for the UEFA Women's Champions League qualification stages next season, securing a first domestic title remains a distant goal. However, the outlook for the men's side, where Ineos has explicitly said its focus lies, is much bleaker despite Ratcliffe injecting £238.5m in cash since taking on his minority stake.
The men's squad finished the 2024/25 Premier League season with their worst points tally since 1930/31 and placed 15th, just two spots above the relegation zone. United lost their final game of the season, the Europa League final, to Tottenham Hotspur and with it a lucrative spot in next year's UEFA Champions League.
Ratcliffe, a lifelong Manchester United fan, inspired fresh optimism from the fanbase when Ineos bought a share of the club from unpopular American owners Joel Glazer and Avram Glazer for a reported £1.3 billion.
However, his own popularity among supporters has quickly diminished due to cost-cutting measures enforced by the British billionaire.
Approximately 450 staff members have been made redundant in two periods of staffing cuts over the last 12 months in a bid to alleviate the club's bloated wage bill, with festive bonuses, free lunches, pre-match meals and accommodation for staff all being axed altogether or at least heavily reduced.
Ratcliffe, who now owns 27.7% of the club following a subsequent deal, is conscious that these cutbacks are categorically unpopular, but believes tough decisions are required to steer the ship back into smoother waters.
Perhaps what irks supporters of the club most about these financial reductions is that, on the footballing side, sizeable transfer fees continue to be handed out. Over £110 million has already been put towards two player incomings this summer, with more signings likely to follow suit.
According to The Athletic, Manchester United's debt amounts to £731 million, however, they currently remain safe for now from breaching English football's profit and sustainability rules – a measure of a club's tax profits and losses.
Despite his expected return to a broader role within Ineos, Brailsford remains on the board at the football club and looks set to still advise on key decisions.
Cyclingnews has reached out to Ineos Grenadiers for comment.
Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The Independent, The Guardian, ProCycling, The Express and Reuters.
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