If iPaperSport said it it must be true
Sir Jim Ratcliffe: I want to buy Manchester United | Will make a bid for the club [Telegraph]
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the next buyer isn't gonna be making a sound business investment that is for sure
they'll be buying it for prestige and because they want it, not to make money
I mean, I work in a lab so yeah, the name crops up an awful lot
They bought it for 800m 15 odd years ago?!
What billionaire isn't going to want to have Top Reds turn up outside their family home in balaclavas if we don't beat Aston Villa one week?
An American one will be fine. It’s the CEO who lives in Manchester who gets the shit.
A couple more years of mediocrity, and I doubt a couple of pints will pacify the hooligans.
In that spirit, Bernard Arnault is the one massive billionaire that is never linked to these kind of things. It's also one of the few individuals for which 5 billions isn't much.
United shirts made by Louis Vuitton
The problem is there's little benefit to owning football clubs. Successful and the manager is the hero. Don't buy a player fans want, go through bad patch - you're a wanker.
Unless you're looking to use it as a tool to launder your money or countries reputation- why bother?
As a fan base, regardless of whether we think it's justified, have chanted about and made death threats turned up at people's home, sought to sabotage the clubs relationships with commercial partners.
Are we surprised there's not a queue of people wanting a piece of that?
Again, you may or may not justify that. You can correctly point out most have been a minority. But why would anyone risk that involvement with potential affects it might have on someone with a portfolio of other interests. Why the headache of having your commercial partners targeted because we lost out to City on a signing in January.
Even the 'I'd be fine if the club defaulted on the debt and got relegated if it meant getting rid of the Glazers" mindset that's very popular is the biggest and reddest of red flags for anyone looking to buy the club. Efforts to out the Glazers have ironically lead to actions that make us spectacularly unafeckingpealing to anyone otherwise perhaps interested in owing the club
Buy us and if it doesn't work out we'll try and feck your other business interests. There's not a queue for that
The company I work for does a lot of business with Ineos - hoping we could get some box tickets if a deal happens!
I remember Simon Jordan on talk sport saying the more it’s in the public the less likely it is to happen
all these things are normally done behind closed doors then come to light near the end
Newcastle being the example, when it was public it was because they were struggerling to get the deal done, then out of nowhere it got done in a week
Agreed. If they were selling, all the buyers would be sounded out now and proposals will be being put forward and analysed. No need to be public if the wheels are already in motion.
The group who bought Newcastle in late 2021 were publicly reported as being close to buying the club in April 2020. Not quite a week, that.
Staveley without the others (who let’s be real, were definitely involved) was publicly linked with Newcastle in 2018. All very secretive stuff there, can see why Jordan is such an astute businessman.
EDIT: a slight correction. The Reuben Brothers were also named as working with Staveley in 2018. Just the Saudi’s weren’t albeit she openly said it wasn’t just her and the Reubens.
But it got pied didn’t it for ages then came to light later on a second time
spending 60m on a 30 yo midfielder doesn't strike me as the actions of owners about to sell
unless.. the new owner is already agreed and has sanctioned it? seems highly unlikely
unless.. the new owner is already agreed and has sanctioned it? seems highly unlikely
Ive read 4 out of the 6 parasites want to sell. Now I know nothing about finance at this level, but could JR bypass the 2 that dont and buy the other 4s shares? That would give him control and he could starve them out, cut dividends etc
Joel and Avram have approx 30%, rest make up 39%
So if he got the 39% and bought the other 31% this could happen?
I'm not an expert but I would imagine if he bought out 4/6 Glazers and the rest of the shares then I believe they would almost be forced to sell.
Cycling!
Yup. This leaking about what the Apollo discussions are about seems to be all about making it known if someone out there wants to buy the club now is the time.
Yeap. 100% agree.
Why not? It's not their money to spend or not to spend - comes out of the club's account and I don't think it would impact the potential sale price in any way.
It makes absolutely zero difference to them. It’s club money going on the club’s books.
Not sure, remember our financials are that of a team who basically have done nothing in major comps for a decade and have had no owner money coming in at all. Glazers still make a mint off essentially a slowly fading club, imagine how much an owner could make if they got us challenging again.
I have no doubt the long term plan from many of these US investors in particular is to create a group of franchise teams and then create some kind of global super league. The money making potential is still there.
Kieran Maguire, football finance expert has done an(Other) interview about this with Stretford Paddock and he thinks Sir Jim wants a legacy - something to do with his money as he is retirement age and has plenty left over. He said being a fan, he wants to restore United to the top (including stadium and infrastructure) and be remembered for doing so. Plus through being a fan he gets to enjoy the sporting success too.
Knighton is out. His 7 million isn’t enough to take on Sir Jim’s 20 billion 
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This Apollo thing would be some of the Glazers being bought out of the club. Apollo would get their shares and they would walk off with the money.
Joel and Avram would be left in charge of the club.
No money would be invested into Manchester united by Apollo and no money by Joel and Avram because they wouldn't be getting any.
When Malcolm Glazer bought Manchester united he did it almost entirely with money he borrowed at incredibly high interest rates. Think almost payday loan levels. This was just to get the deal done. This was then refinanced at huge cost to the club, not the Glazers, into lower interest loans which, even to this day have not been paid off at all. Instead they have used United revenues just to pay the interest.
Does this help you understand my concerns now? They are not seeking money for the stadium or to buy players. 4 out of 6 Glazers want out of United and to use the money elsewhere. No equity firm worth its salt would do this deal and not want huge control in the company. However, Apollo are allegedly quite a shady outfit and so may just want to do a deal like this one. But they will be doing it in the hope that they will profit from a full future sale.
Nah. He could buy out the four and the remaining 2 would retain control (about 70% voting power) even though their stake in the club is about 20%. The current a/b share structure makes this kind of takeover impossible.
Control would be a key issue for any investor willing to buy a minority stake. New shares with a greater voting power than the current A shares would be required.
Hahahahaha
Interesting that he already owns clubs in France and Switzerland. Would be a nice response to the network of clubs City have been putting in place.
One of the most successful companies in the UK, run by the countries richest man? I imagine one or two might have stumbled across it outside of an F1 sponsorship.
if they were trying to sell the asset for as much as possible it would obviously make a difference
This news has so brought sunshine back into my life after an utterly miserable roller coaster ride of a year as a United supporter.
As far as I'm concerned it's going to happen now, we're going to finally see the back of the Glazers, and it's only just sinking in.
Happy days are around the corner and the news and growing realisation are also finally dissipating all the current transfer and club woes that only last week had me sinking into dispair.
To be honest, now, I'm starting to get those tingly giggly moments I used to get after we won the treble, as I re-lived the moment in my mind, or watched clips on the news, even for years afterwards, you know, just that pure joy the moment gifted us with.
And for me, this - being saved in our dire time of need, rescued from the clutches of terrible owners by a billionaire boyhood fan, with the interests of the club and Manchester at heart is reawakening those tingly giggly moments of joy as the realisation sinks in - another chapter in our amazing history and one I believe to be up there with 1999.
It's here, finally, what we've all been hoping against hope for, and it will happen now, sooner rather than later and I for one, am over the fecking moon!
As far as I'm concerned it's going to happen now, we're going to finally see the back of the Glazers, and it's only just sinking in.
Happy days are around the corner and the news and growing realisation are also finally dissipating all the current transfer and club woes that only last week had me sinking into dispair.
To be honest, now, I'm starting to get those tingly giggly moments I used to get after we won the treble, as I re-lived the moment in my mind, or watched clips on the news, even for years afterwards, you know, just that pure joy the moment gifted us with.
And for me, this - being saved in our dire time of need, rescued from the clutches of terrible owners by a billionaire boyhood fan, with the interests of the club and Manchester at heart is reawakening those tingly giggly moments of joy as the realisation sinks in - another chapter in our amazing history and one I believe to be up there with 1999.
It's here, finally, what we've all been hoping against hope for, and it will happen now, sooner rather than later and I for one, am over the fecking moon!
The parasites who own our great club will say Chelsea sold for £4.2bn, Man United revenue is 20% more and it’s actual debt 20% less, so we want £5-6bn to sell and then it’s down to potential buyers.
Let’s all pray your right the sooner the Glaziers go, the quicker the dark
times will leave the club And we can all party like it’s 1999.
I sure hope so mate, you have laid it out very well. Let's enjoy the ride and the fight back.
No, we’re not interested in making money out of Chelsea,” Ratcliffe told the BBC. “Can we run that club really, really well and turn it into one of the finest clubs in Europe? That’s our ambition with Chelsea. We make lots of money in chemicals, we don’t need to make money out of (Chelsea). We don’t think of it as a financial asset.
Hell of a quote that. Then again, while he might be a hell of a lot better than the Galzers, we should still handle what he says with plenty of scepticism
Hell of a quote that. Then again, while he might be a hell of a lot better than the Galzers, we should still handle what he says with plenty of scepticism
The Glazers payed bloody nothing to buy the club and will get north than 5bn, bloody rats.