Not happy, will support the club still.
ACTUAL POLL thread - how do you feel about potential Qatari ownership?
- Thread starter Wumminator
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Before any journalists report on this thread in their papers - please get fecked.
Fine - some reservations. But there’s no billionaire buyer I am 100% comfortable with.
Ah it's so depressing. I'm already not paying a penny to United in anyway, not following them on any SM and not paying a subscription to any of the Sports channels because of the Glazers.
I'm not sure I will be able to walk away from supporting the club but it's created a massive black cloud over the whole thing for me just at a time when things were looking up for the team under Ten Hag.
Gas that one of the votes for option 1 comes from someone called @Man “Qatar” Utd
This.
I’m maintaining a neutral outlook on the potential Qatari ownership, and as of this morning (from the reporting I’ve read), the potential for Saudi ownership.
I will say this as an American fan…
whoever owns United after this is all said and done…fix the stadium, asap.
i don’t fall under this category of fans (I watch my games from across the Atlantic) but show some loyalty in the fans for once.
I will say this as an American fan…
whoever owns United after this is all said and done…fix the stadium, asap.
i don’t fall under this category of fans (I watch my games from across the Atlantic) but show some loyalty in the fans for once.
I voted not happy, but will still support. No matter who owns the club in a legal sense, it will always belong to the fans in the way that matters the most.
But I would definitely derive less happiness from our success if it came due to oil money. I’ve always felt that Chelsea and Man City’s trophies have come with an asterisk for that reason, and I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t apply the same logic to us.
But I would definitely derive less happiness from our success if it came due to oil money. I’ve always felt that Chelsea and Man City’s trophies have come with an asterisk for that reason, and I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t apply the same logic to us.
i put the 'fine but with some reservations.' But then i would have reservations about any new owner even if it was a Nelson Mandela / Dalai Lama joint bid. I will be just glad to get rid of the current numpties. The club cannot afford to be left behind and i would have lot more reservation about some US hedge fund that are buddies with the Glazers. I will welcome our new Qatar overlords.
Last edited:
Fine with it as long as they invest in long-term infrastructure to modernize the club.
I voted option 2, but it could easily end up being 3 
How anyone can have no reservations blows my mind. Have they learned nothing from what's gone on at city? Or here?
The result of this sale will have massive consequences, possibly for generations to come. Is an extra few hundred million really worth selling our reputation for?
How anyone can have no reservations blows my mind. Have they learned nothing from what's gone on at city? Or here?
The result of this sale will have massive consequences, possibly for generations to come. Is an extra few hundred million really worth selling our reputation for?
voted 3, but it could also have been 2. The way I see it is that I could never completely turn my back on United, but I suspect my actual love for and interest in this club will wane drastically. It'll probably feel wrong and hollow, and I doubt I'll ever be as emotionally invested under this leadership as I have been for the last ~25 years.
It pisses me off to no ends that this already seriously dampens my mood right now, in a time where I'm actually REALLY excited about the team for the first time since SAF. But I guess we just can't have nice things in world football these days.
It pisses me off to no ends that this already seriously dampens my mood right now, in a time where I'm actually REALLY excited about the team for the first time since SAF. But I guess we just can't have nice things in world football these days.
In some ways we are in desperate need to climb our way up and we will need considerable investment in key areas to be able to do that. Qatar are best placed to provide us the resources, without shying away from keeping up with the rigours of modern football ownership, something a 'proper' owner like FSG are unable to do. It's tough but it is how it is.
But Of course you've got to have some reservations when such big moves are made. Sugar daddy ownership is never as smooth as one would imagine.
My biggest worry is how choppy things could get if we are not winning. These guys are coming in with big egos and they would want us to stamp our authority on this division.
With City, Chelsea and maybe even Newcastle around we are not going to bully others away in the transfer market, especially with the new FFP regulations. Ultimately it's going to come down to performances on the pitch and it's not a certainty that we will be winning things always. It could so easily lead to a circus around the club. Look at PSG and how many managerial changes they have made, would someone like Arteta be backed there? Boehly with Tuchel.
If we are not winning, things becoming toxic they could so easily bin the project, get bored and look to move on.
But Of course you've got to have some reservations when such big moves are made. Sugar daddy ownership is never as smooth as one would imagine.
My biggest worry is how choppy things could get if we are not winning. These guys are coming in with big egos and they would want us to stamp our authority on this division.
With City, Chelsea and maybe even Newcastle around we are not going to bully others away in the transfer market, especially with the new FFP regulations. Ultimately it's going to come down to performances on the pitch and it's not a certainty that we will be winning things always. It could so easily lead to a circus around the club. Look at PSG and how many managerial changes they have made, would someone like Arteta be backed there? Boehly with Tuchel.
If we are not winning, things becoming toxic they could so easily bin the project, get bored and look to move on.
Fine with reservations, i can't champion the chap who's company have pumped the manchester ship canal with crap either so the answers the same for the other.
My biggest fear is if we don't get these type of owners with vast sums of money, we are resigning ourselves to always being second best and then if the same people go off and purchase Liverpool and go on to great things it would be even more unbearable.
Its a situation of must if you want to stay at the top of football imo, people will say we can compete because of the huge incomes we generate they won't last forever if we don't start succeeding, we are sitting on borrowed time from long periods of successes.
My biggest fear is if we don't get these type of owners with vast sums of money, we are resigning ourselves to always being second best and then if the same people go off and purchase Liverpool and go on to great things it would be even more unbearable.
Its a situation of must if you want to stay at the top of football imo, people will say we can compete because of the huge incomes we generate they won't last forever if we don't start succeeding, we are sitting on borrowed time from long periods of successes.
It’s possible, but isn’t the Qatari guy behind their apparent bid a legit United fan who followed us through the 90’s and the rest of the glory years under Sir Alex?
You can't see why someone has reservations with the absolute monarchy of Qatar taking full ownership and control over Manchester united? On any level?
In Qatar people who criticize the regime or Islam are put in prison. The list of violations against human rights is so long that I'll stop it there for now, but then comes the sportswashing and the new image we'll get as the new flashy posterboys for sportswashing world wide for which we will get a lot of negative global attention. The Emir will have a saying in how the club is run from the top to bottom, and so on. We will lose a lot of fans, including me. Human rights organisations all over the world will be all over us, and rightfully so. There is a loooong list of downsides and potential downsides following this.
A Qatari ownership comes with a whole lot more that just fresh money, and it isn't reversible.
Personally I can't see a single upside besides money, not one.
Last edited:
For me, it's fine but have reservations. Not for the moral aspect of it, but I simply dislike the idea of clubs being owned by states. At any rate, a Qatari ownership is a million times better than a Glazer one, that's for sure.
We do need the money. Every business or sporting organisation does.
The main aim is to get the Glazers out. They are failures.
The only reason why we won trophies with them in charge was due to excellent managers. The moment we got "okay" managers, we all saw how things fell apart.
We've now reached a stage where even getting 3rd place is seen as some achievement. Even as recently as Jose Mourinho when we got 2nd and won 2 trophies, many felt it was a failure.
If the middle eastern owners take over, they will demand results and poor performers (which the club have plenty of), will be fired. Arabs tend to demand excellence....fast.
I had been steadily drifting away from football in general because of all the corruption, sport washing and quite frankly the obscene money it costs to watch United games through legal means. Solskjær's arrival kind of rekindled my support as he was one of my favorite players as a kid and then Ten Hag's arrival made it even more fascinating to follow. I'd be sad if the club were to become a sport washing front for the Qataris or the Saudis just when the management seems to have steadied the ship. I'll be a lot more invested if it was someone like Ratcliffe or even an American hedge fund that took control of the club.
Not happy. Will be debating against that for as long as I can. State ownership in football needs to get rid of.
A state ownership does not get to take away my love for the club and the players on the pitch.
A state ownership does not get to take away my love for the club and the players on the pitch.
Let me rephrase, we don't need that much money. We just need to not be saddled with £1bn debt and allowed to spend what we generate, which is already massive.
We pay around 20m in interest payments, and around 25m in dividends to the shareholders (only 70% of which are Glazers). Do you think that just an extra 45-50m pounds per year are going to allow us to compete with City and Newcastle, especially when we need a new stadium (or a massive investment in Old Trafford)?
If the debt is cleared then we'd be able to spend more. It doesn't just need to be the Qataris that can clear the debt.
Okay, I'm going to try and dumb it down a little, if I can...
If the people are "fine" with the Qataris coming and have the above reservations that you have given, then how are they "fine" with the take over?
If it was something along the lines of, "yeah, I'm fine with them coming in, however, my reservations are that they will go to a galactico policy and dismiss the youth system", then this I understand.
However, I don't think you're the best person to comment on my question because, A) you're not fine with it, so B) my question wasn't aimed at someone like yourself.
Is it really necessary to vote and then just post your said vote?
We would be able to spend 45m more (without debt and dividends). If we build a stadium that costs 1B paid over 20 years, we won't be able to spend a penny more. Likely the stadium will cost more than that, so even with the debt cleared and the dividends cancelled, we will need to spend less. If the new owner somehow pays for the stadium (let's go in la la land for a moment), in top of clearing the debt, stopping the dividends and buying the club, we would be able to spend another 45m per year. It is basic arithmetics.
Congrats, we can buy an extra van der Beek (without the wages) each year. Let's compete now with City!
We're 5 points behind them.
I'd just rather build something ethically and organically. But I understand the amount of investment needed is an exceptional circumstance due to the mismanagement of the Glazers.
By the end of this season, they would have won 5 out of the last 6 titles.
Forgive me for thinking that having 45m extra per year (big if, in case we build a new stadium) will not have made us as successful as them.
Finally we can get rid of the American leeches with their greedy system. We were being handicapped by them for 20 years while watching City and Chelsea owners spending billions building their teams.
With Qatari ownership, at the very least we will be able to spend what we earned which is more than sufficient to compete rather than feeding the fecking Glazers billionaire lifestyle in America.
Case in point, we have only Martial as our main striker. But all we can afford now is a loan striker from Burnley who was playing in Turkish League, FFS.
With Qatari ownership, at the very least we will be able to spend what we earned which is more than sufficient to compete rather than feeding the fecking Glazers billionaire lifestyle in America.
Case in point, we have only Martial as our main striker. But all we can afford now is a loan striker from Burnley who was playing in Turkish League, FFS.
So what? He's also a fecking absolutist monarch. Historically that does things to one's patience and tolerance for unfavorable outcomes.
Said it before but I'll be done. Probably with football all together if I'm honest.
Thank you for dumbing it don't for me (I knew the question wasn't for me and what you were asking. I just find your stance in this so frustratingly wrong, that I couldn't help myself)
Let me ask you a question.
How do you justify being fine with the Emir of Qatar taking full control of our club without any reservations?
The Emir and the royal family of Qatar are personally responsible for all the violations against human rights and the laws/legal system in Qatar, a whole country which they have 100% power over. They decide what opinions are allowed, what God you must worship, that men rule over women etc....resist and they put you in jail.
Do really you think they'll just splash money on us without interfering with the club in any other way or cause any negative bieffects?
There's almost 500 pages of people's concerns.
C) Elon Musk
Won't you missed football especially Man Utd game? I have supported the club through thick and thin. The 99 CL win is still fresh in my memory. The way we defeated Juventus in the semi and beat BM in the final. There were many other great moments and memories that have been unbelievable. Week in week out watching our games and celebrating every goal we scored. You are willing to give up all these just because of Qatari ownership? I will always be Man Utd fans.
Btw, Qatar has being voted as the best ever World Cup.
Bloody hell. One in every eight fans voting in the poll at the moment would be done with the club.
That is… insane really. Heartbreaking this whole thing.
That is… insane really. Heartbreaking this whole thing.
I think some want to explain why they voted a particular way. I know I did.
This
Look at the bright side. 7 in 8 will be giddy.
I have to accept the unfairness in this world. I also have to take the position of that, if I am so passionate about something, like you clearly are, I will then have to fight against that unfairness.
Do I like the unfairness in Qatar? No. Can I also make a difference on my own? No. Every country in the world have their issues. Where do I start and stop? I can only look after my four walls.
Plus, on Qatar, I have neighbours who visit their regularly. Their sister is out there. I have relatives who have lived out there. They can only talk about their good experience. So I go off of that.
But be all and end all, my club is my main concern in this. At this moment in time, I can only see the good that could come from the investment from a Qatar backed consortium.