Club Sale | It’s done!

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Giggsyking

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Do we really have people claiming the fans at the games are not the most important fans? Is that where we are in this debate?
They are absolutely not more important than any other supporter. In fact I would go to the lengths that our huge financial power is thanks to the global fans not the locals.
 

jm99

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And all that so they can buy lavish yachts, expensive homes, and fund some daft hobbies or daft business. For the likes of Ballmer & Abramovich, it was/is sports teams, for Bransen it’s been “space travel”, for Musk it’s his favourite social media app etc.

Hell, Warren Buffet, George Soros, Julian Robertson jr. John Arnold, Amos Hostetter Jr., Gordon Moore, and Lynn Schusterman are among the most philanthropic billionaires, giving away 20% or more of their wealth.
Right but my point is look at Abramovich, he buys a club that he has no links to (wasn't he going to buy spurs if they got CL) he invests a shitload and they win the league. Ratcliffe's previous football enterprises don't fill me with optimism. You can have hope that it's about a legacy, but the best judge is actual experience, and actual experience tells us that he hasn't done the best job
 

TrebleChamp99

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As a United fan base we really need to be careful here.

If the people who don’t want Qatar based on non football reasons get enough of a voice and shout loud enough I can see it not happening and if that’s the case you will have a huge number of fans seriously pissed off that we had one opportunity to really get back to the top of the game and blew it based on political reasoning.

We won’t come back from the wrong ownership, we’ll be stuck with whoever it is for the next 10/20 years some of us may not see new owners after this. I’m young enough that I might but others not.

If we don’t get it right and go for the best sporting project and opportunity we won’t be winning another title champions league for decades.

Make no mistake opportunities like this do not come often , think about Manchester United and what the club is and was and why we fell in love with it. Share that passion and hope we can be a conduit of change in those regions.
 

youmeletsfly

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Any of Qatar or Ratcliffe is 100000% better than now.
Ratcliffe is in the ground in a few years and the fact he's a fan won't matter anymore for the corporate leeches.

Qatar is by far the worst choice. What people fail to remember is this is a working man's club based on values that are becoming harder and harder to find these days. We're not Man City for a state to buy us for some random social experiment.
I'd rather be in the fecking ground than see the mother fecking qatari own this.
 

Tom Van Persie

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They are absolutely not more important than any other supporter. In fact I would go to the lengths that our huge financial power is thanks to the global fans not the locals.
Now think about why we got that global fanbase and who was there every week supporting the club through all the dark times. When Fergie took over United we were a sleeping giant. We remained a big club thanks to our loyal match going fans.
 

red thru&thru

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As a United fan base we really need to be careful here.

If the people who don’t want Qatar based on non football reasons get enough of a voice and shout loud enough I can see it not happening and if that’s the case you will have a huge number of fans seriously pissed off that we had one opportunity to really get back to the top of the game and blew it based on political reasoning.

We won’t come back from the wrong ownership, we’ll be stuck with whoever it is for the next 10/20 years some of us may not see new owners after this. I’m young enough that I might but others not.

If we don’t get it right and go for the best sporting project and opportunity we won’t be winning another title champions league for decades.

Make no mistake opportunities like this do not come often , think about Manchester United and what the club is and was and why we fell in love with it. Share that passion and hope we can be a conduit of change in those regions.
I'm really not worried about this. The only people who are pushing the negative voice are the press.

All the polls that I've seen, other than The Athletic's, have the fans wanting Qatar over SJR, or any other potential suitor.
 

TrebleChamp99

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They are absolutely not more important than any other supporter. In fact I would go to the lengths that our huge financial power is thanks to the global fans not the locals.
Absolutely,
OT holds 75k where 65k are season ticket holders?

There are hundreds of millions of dedicated supporters worldwide that live and breathe United on a daily basis hanging on every thread of information and content.

Those who can afford to or are lucky enough to live close enough to see United play live are LUCKY. There are people in the darkest most remote parts of the world using United , watching via dodgy streams at 4am as escapism.

Boils my blood when I hear bullshit like “local fans are more important”.
 
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red thru&thru

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Ratcliffe is in the ground in a few years and the fact he's a fan won't matter anymore for the corporate leeches.

Qatar is by far the worst choice. What people fail to remember is this is a working man's club based on values that are becoming harder and harder to find these days. We're not Man City for a state to buy us for some random social experiment.
I'd rather be in the fecking ground than see the mother fecking qatari own this.
What is the club now?
 

Mr Pigeon

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Why does Ratcliffe's age matter to some people anyway? Even ignoring that he's a billionaire with access to the best medical care available, he has kids to pass his company down to.
 

Giggsyking

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Ratcliffe is in the ground in a few years and the fact he's a fan won't matter anymore for the corporate leeches.

Qatar is by far the worst choice. What people fail to remember is this is a working man's club based on values that are becoming harder and harder to find these days. We're not Man City for a state to buy us for some random social experiment.
I'd rather be in the fecking ground than see the mother fecking qatari own this.
State or any Qatari? be specific.
 

Red in STL

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And all that so they can buy lavish yachts, expensive homes, and fund some daft hobbies or daft business. For the likes of Ballmer & Abramovich, it was/is sports teams, for Bransen it’s been “space travel”, for Musk it’s his favourite social media app etc.

Hell, Warren Buffet, George Soros, Julian Robertson jr. John Arnold, Amos Hostetter Jr., Gordon Moore, and Lynn Schusterman are among the most philanthropic billionaires, giving away 20% or more of their wealth.
Musk gave away $2 billion worth of Tesla shares to chatity the other day which didn't seem to get much coverage
 

BluesJr

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I'm really not worried about this. The only people who are pushing the negative voice are the press.

All the polls that I've seen, other than The Athletic's, have the fans wanting Qatar over SJR, or any other potential suitor.
Think age is a big factor in this as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a general correlation between age and support for Ratcliffe.
 

Chesterlestreet

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Correct, but we shouldn't stray too far off the central topic. Whenever we do, there will be a reminder to reign things back in.
That's fair (we don't need to see the tiresome arguments about iPhones and whatnot over and over again).
 

red thru&thru

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Think age is a big factor in this as well. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a general correlation between age and support for Ratcliffe.
What are you saying here? Which age demographic isn't being considered in these polls?
 

Chesterlestreet

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Why does Ratcliffe's age matter to some people anyway? Even ignoring that he's a billionaire with access to the best medical care available, he has kids to pass his company down to.
He's no match for the other fella in that department, it must be said.
 
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Right but my point is look at Abramovich, he buys a club that he has no links to (wasn't he going to buy spurs if they got CL) he invests a shitload and they win the league. Ratcliffe's previous football enterprises don't fill me with optimism. You can have hope that it's about a legacy, but the best judge is actual experience, and actual experience tells us that he hasn't done the best job
Roman bought a big CL London club in the biggest league in the World, not quite the same as Nice like?
You think spunking 500m into Nice would’ve shown him a good owner, I think the exact opposite.
 

Withnail

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Yeah that's definitely a pipe-dream because unfortunately Ratcliffe isn't a British Abramovich so will want ROI
Not in the short term I don't think. It wouldn't make any sense to me given the figures involved. Any dividend coming out of United is a drop in the ocean compared to the debt they'll take on. Their focus will likely be on growing the asset rather than taking Glazer-style dividends.

And the pipedream is a non Nation State owner.
 

mu4c_20le

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If we don’t get it right and go for the best sporting project and opportunity we won’t be winning another title champions league for decades.
Kinell, no hyperbole here. And it's not like Liverpool did it all without the cheat code money, and Arsenal look close to doing the same.

Nope, we'd be ducked for decades if we miss this boat for a bit more financial freedom....
 

Giggsyking

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Now think about why we got that global fanbase and who was there every week supporting the club through all the dark times. When Fergie took over United we were a sleeping giant. We remained a big club thanks to our loyal match going fans.
and?? the global fans are the reason we are big.
Back to the same point. Both are important and equally important, but from an financial point of view (the most important in football now) the global fans are more important.
 

stevoc

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So seriously speaking, what is our best option?

- Qatar is fecking qatar
- Americans are mostly leeches and idiots
- Rattclife is basically an undercover American like Richard Hammond
- Glazers seem to not give a feck anymore or not have enough money to take us further
- Musk is a madman

However you look at it, we're in deep shit.
The anti American sentiment in this thread grows bolder.
 

RORY65

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As a United fan base we really need to be careful here.

If the people who don’t want Qatar based on non football reasons get enough of a voice and shout loud enough I can see it not happening and if that’s the case you will have a huge number of fans seriously pissed off that we had one opportunity to really get back to the top of the game and blew it based on political reasoning.

We won’t come back from the wrong ownership, we’ll be stuck with whoever it is for the next 10/20 years some of us may not see new owners after this. I’m young enough that I might but others not.

If we don’t get it right and go for the best sporting project and opportunity we won’t be winning another title champions league for decades.

Make no mistake opportunities like this do not come often, think about Manchester United and what the club is and was and why we fell in love with it. Share that passion and hope we can be a conduit of change in those regions.
If the Qataris buy us then that is diminished, we become a tool for a state to increase their power base and influence and any success will feel a lot more vacuous. Buying us also won't be a conduit for change, especially given that such a large proportion of our fanbase seem so desperate for them to come in just so we can have some shiny new signings that I doubt there's going to be real pressure on them to make any sort of change if they get the shiny signings. We don't need a lottery win to be successful again, we need competence. Whether the Qataris, Ratcliffe or any other prospective bidder have that competence is the real question.
 

Giggsyking

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Absolutely,
OT holds 75k where 65k are season ticket holders?

There are hundreds of millions of dedicated supporters worldwide that live and breathe United on a daily basis hanging on every thread of information and content.

Those who can afford to or are lucky enough to live close enough to see United play live are LUCKY. There are people in the darkest most remote parts of the world using United , watching via dodgy streams at 4am as escapism.

Boils my blood when I hear bullshit like “local fans are more important”.
It boils my blood too. This arrogant condescending look on the foreign supporters is disgusting.
 

jm99

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Roman bought a big CL London club in the biggest league in the World, not quite the same as Nice like?
You think spunking 500m into Nice would’ve shown him a good owner, I think the exact opposite.
I think spending a large initial amount to make them a top 3 club in France, then use the additional tv revenues from the CL to keep them there, plus the occasional investment from him makes them a far more attractive proposition.

Look at Newcastle, bought for 300m, invested 200m, yet assuming they qualify for the CL they're probably worth about 800m now. Another 500m of investment, continuing CL qualification and a title, and they're probably worth 1.5-2bn. That's why the only sensible investment really, is buying a relatively cheap club and investing massively on field, is a far better investment than buying a bigger club and spending less
 

Wumminator

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Absolutely,
OT holds 75k where 65k are season ticket holders?

There are hundreds of millions of dedicated supporters worldwide that live and breathe United on a daily basis hanging on every thread of information and content.

Those who can afford to or are lucky enough to live close enough to see United play live are LUCKY. There are people in the darkest most remote parts of the world using United , watching via dodgy streams at 4am as escapism.

Boils my blood when I hear bullshit like “local fans are more important”.
and?? the global fans are the reason we are big.
Back to the same point. Both are important and equally important, but from an financial point of view (the most important in football now) the global fans are more important.
I just cannot understand how anyone can view football this way. It makes a lot of sense that you support the Qatari bid if this is how you view the footballing world.
 

BluesJr

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If the Qataris buy us then that is diminished, we become a tool for a state to increase their power base and influence and any success will feel a lot more vacuous. Buying us also won't be a conduit for change, especially given that such a large proportion of our fanbase seem so desperate for them to come in just so we can have some shiny new signings that I doubt there's going to be real pressure on them to make any sort of change if they get the shiny signings. We don't need a lottery win to be successful again, we need competence. Whether the Qataris, Ratcliffe or any other prospective bidder have that competence is the real question.
As Gary Neville said, is it not better to try and integrate these places into the western world and reforms etc will most likely follow? I think it’s pretty likely that will happen in the next 50 years or so.
 

Red in STL

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Roman bought a big CL London club in the biggest league in the World, not quite the same as Nice like?
You think spunking 500m into Nice would’ve shown him a good owner, I think the exact opposite.
Chelsea were not a big CL club when he bought them
 

Messier1994

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The only way the value of Manchester United will have kept up with the economy as a whole, is if sky starts charging about £3000 a year
The thing is, today, the tv rights for the Nordics alone is worth €20m per team per season, with a pop. of 28m. That is twice as much as the domestic Sky deal paid in 1997. Go back 20 years, and the Nordic TV deal was just worth peanuts.

TV rights in the US have gone from roughly 80m (-2012) to 250m (2013-2016) to the new deal from 2022 that pays 450m per year. That is 22.5m per team per season. What is the pop, 300m?

The entire gigantic Asia/Pacific market (APAC) pays just 450m per season, same as the US. That is with a 2.6bn population. Football is the most popular sport across the APAC region. Of the TV viewers of the PL, every third is in the APAC. That is pretty fantastic. But they only stand for 7.5% of the TV revenue.

This year is the first time the PL earns more money from overseas TV rights than the domestic TV rights. By comparison, in 2010, the overseas rights was just 1/3 of the domestic rights.

There is no reason to — not — expect this extreme income boom from overseas TV rights to continue. If anything, sport rights are becoming more crucial as cable networks lose their grip of the market and linear TV with its monopolistic draw becomes more or less obsolete. The income will not go up steadily with 5-10% per year, but as markets mature and over a 10-20 year period, the average increase will probably be a lot higher. Just like the overseas market is larger than the domestic market, APEC alone could easily dwarf the all other markets combined and then some.
 

Chesterlestreet

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A mod literally just posted before mine saying “Football”.
Yeah, but see above: they clearly aren't saying "only purely football related aspects should be discussed here". And rightly so, because that would be absurd. We all know why people are against a potential Qatari takeover: for some people (very few) it has something to do with worrying about them being bad (meddling, Galactico obsessed, etc.) owners in a purely football sense, yes. For the vast majority - clearly not: again, it's obvious why they're against it and it has virtually nothing to do with football.
 
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