Club Sale | It’s done!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Infra-red

Full Member
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
13,425
Location
left wing
I know these guys have enough money to make any rules disappear. Isn't there UEFA rules against the same owners/investing in teams in the same competitions?

So I'm not sure how them owning/part owning Utd/Spurs and PSG would work if all these teams are going to aim to be in the CL every year.
They can own part of multiple Champions League clubs, but they cannot own a controlling percentage of more than one UCL club. There is no issue with them buying, say, 25% of one of Spurs/United/Liverpool, whilst remaining the owners of PSG.
 

Compton22

Knows that he knows nothing.
Joined
Jul 27, 2014
Messages
3,393

Qatar looking to 'invest' in a PL club.

Fear we're heading for a nightmare scenario where we become the puppet of an oil state and the parasites stay in charge.
What is the advantage of holding a minority stake for their investment in Man Utd for countries like Qatar? Surely they'd want to own a club in this league. Or am I missing something here?
 

Yakuza_devils

Full Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2016
Messages
3,142

Qatar looking to 'invest' in a PL club.

Fear we're heading for a nightmare scenario where we become the puppet of an oil state and the parasites stay in charge.
Buy Man Utd. Free transfer Mbappe, Neymar, Messi, Donnarumma from PSG to Man Utd.
 

Drizzle

Full Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
1,350

Qatar looking to 'invest' in a PL club.

Fear we're heading for a nightmare scenario where we become the puppet of an oil state and the parasites stay in charge.
That would be a strange outcome. What would be in it for the new investors? Several billion dollars only to not have full control of the club, pass up on the sportswashing benefits and also keep the toxicity around the Glazers' ownership continuing to tarnish the brand.
 

Solius

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Staff
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
86,849
Imagine if the new owners come in and decide they don't want ten Hag. I think I'd cry.
 

Coops73

Full Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
3,345

Qatar looking to 'invest' in a PL club.

Fear we're heading for a nightmare scenario where we become the puppet of an oil state and the parasites stay in charge.
That’s the fear.

It’s pretty convenient timing from Spurs point of view seeing as the fans have been calling for Levys head recently.

Could it be the Qataris trying to give the glazers a little nudge? We’re ready to invest/buy a prem club, we want United but you’re taking the piss with the price.

Might they buy a piece of United, slowly sell off more of PSG then take full control of United when they’ve sold more than 50%?
 

Yakuza_devils

Full Member
Joined
Oct 30, 2016
Messages
3,142
The Qatari are not stupid and I think they will keep ETH. Everyone can see that he is a world class manager. Not sure about Arnold and Murtough though.

ETH will be like what Pep is to City.
 

Pexbo

Winner of the 'I'm not reading that' medal.
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
68,799
Location
Brizzle
Supports
Big Days
Imagine if the new owners come in and decide they don't want ten Hag. I think I'd cry.
If we start going down that sort of route it’ll be the end for me.
 

Telsim

Full Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2021
Messages
4,966

Qatar looking to 'invest' in a PL club.

Fear we're heading for a nightmare scenario where we become the puppet of an oil state and the parasites stay in charge.
Highly likely outcome. Avram and Joel don't sound like they want to get rid of the club, so they would definitely prefer a partial sale while they remain in charge. Qatar on the other hand are looking to invest, instead of buyout completely. If such a scheme comes to pass, the best we can hope for is Qatar start putting pressure on the parasites as we inevitably remain an utterly irrelevant football entity under their leadership. But very far from an ideal outcome.
 

cyberman

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
37,331

Qatar looking to 'invest' in a PL club.

Fear we're heading for a nightmare scenario where we become the puppet of an oil state and the parasites stay in charge.
Isn’t this the Ben Jacobs nonsense posted further up?
 

JohnnyKills

Full Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
7,100
What is the advantage of holding a minority stake for their investment in Man Utd for countries like Qatar? Surely they'd want to own a club in this league. Or am I missing something here?
You'd have thought so wouldn't you. What's the point of buying something for prestige if you can't put your name on it?

Unless they want to rename the stadium or something.
 

JohnnyKills

Full Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
7,100
That would be a strange outcome. What would be in it for the new investors? Several billion dollars only to not have full control of the club, pass up on the sportswashing benefits and also keep the toxicity around the Glazers' ownership continuing to tarnish the brand.
Maybe rename the ground? Sponsorship everywhere?

It sounds like a horrible outcome tbh.
 

Infra-red

Full Member
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
13,425
Location
left wing
You'd have thought so wouldn't you. What's the point of buying something for prestige if you can't put your name on it?

Unless they want to rename the stadium or something.
QSI already own 22% of Braga (purchased last year). The Qataris are reportedly keen on building a football network similar to that of CFG, so it might make sense for them to by a portion of Spurs or perhaps United/Liverpool, while keeping PSG as their primary club.

At the time of the Braga deal, Al-Khelaifi said, "Qatar Sports Investments is proud to invest in leading sports businesses and brands around the world, enabling them to reach their full potential. As an investor and partner, we look forward to the club innovating, growing and developing further – across the men's and women's teams, on the commercial and brand side, and across all the communities and businesses it supports – as SC Braga continues its ambitious path."
 

LordSpud

Full Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
2,481
Im absolutely convinced that there will be investment rather than a full sale. The Glazers dont want to let go of it. As more and more clubs get bought by these super rich owners and the gap between those few and the rest gets bigger and bigger, the Super League HAS to happen. And then its payday for them everyday.

Joel and Avram were two of the biggest players in that original super league so they must have an idea of figures - potential profits etc and they've spread these to potential investors like your Qatari's, Dubai's etc to say "look, you give us $2bn to get all of our shit together for xyz percentage of the company, in a few years time we will all be banqueting at the richest table of all with PSG, Real Madrid, City, Newcastle".
 

Infra-red

Full Member
Joined
May 4, 2010
Messages
13,425
Location
left wing
Im absolutely convinced that there will be investment rather than a full sale. The Glazers dont want to let go of it. As more and more clubs get bought by these super rich owners and the gap between those few and the rest gets bigger and bigger, the Super League HAS to happen. And then its payday for them everyday.

Joel and Avram were two of the biggest players in that original super league so they must have an idea of figures - potential profits etc and they've spread these to potential investors like your Qatari's, Dubai's etc to say "look, you give us $2bn to get all of our shit together for xyz percentage of the company, in a few years time we will all be banqueting at the richest table of all with PSG, Real Madrid, City, Newcastle".
Nobody on here wants to hear that, but it remains a very possible outcome. The fact that Avram Glazer, when asked at the World Cup for an update on the progress of the sale said, "it's not necessarily a sale", is reason enough to consider the possibility of an investor coming aboard.
 

Messier1994

The Swedish Rumble
Joined
Oct 7, 2022
Messages
1,368
If the Raine Group deems that there is sufficient interest to achieve a full sale of the Club, they will probably conduct some kind of organized auction process. I looked at the details of the auction process the Raine Group conducted for Chelsea FC last spring, which was executed at break-neck speed a while ago (https://www.redcafe.net/threads/gla...or-6-7bn-sale-in-q1-2023.474085/post-29757360). An auction process will basically include four phases, (1) a deadline for bidders to submit indicative offers, (2) a selction of bidders for a short list, (3) negotiations with the bidders on the short list and (4) the appointment of a preferred buyer and final negotiation with the preferred buyer.

In the Chelsea process, especially the deadline for the first step was insane. People more or less only got 2 weeks to prepare their first indicative offer, and this was at a point 'the world was on fire'. The steps in the process after that were not that fast, a week to create the short list and then a month to select a preferred buyer and another month before the deal was closed. If the plan is to be able to close a transaction in the Q1 of 2023, I would imagine that the first deadline is established around the 1st week of January. This is the time consuming part. Everyone are busy around Christmas. If we then assume that the steps following the indicative will consume the same amount of time as in the Chelsea sale, we get something like the timetable set out below. First one for the Chelsea sale, then one for the Manchester United plc sale.



This is of course pure guess work. But if a similar process to the Chelsea FC one is performed -- and there are no major hold-ups, I would imagine it to roughly follow these lines. There have been some talk about how it is a complicated transaction, and that is of course true but could also be a bit misleading. For the Glazers to find a buyer of their shares, is a fairly uncomplicated transaction. However, after we know who the buyer is, it could of course easily take a few months before the owners of the listed shares on the NYSE are bought out (if they even are included in the transaction). I think the most complicated part is in the pure financial negotiations. Manchester United plc is a listed company. The need for a due diligence review to be done on a public company is much smaller than regarding private companies.
 

LordSpud

Full Member
Joined
May 22, 2017
Messages
2,481
If the Raine Group deems that there is sufficient interest to achieve a full sale of the Club, they will probably conduct some kind of organized auction process. I looked at the details of the auction process the Raine Group conducted for Chelsea FC last spring, which was executed at break-neck speed a while ago (https://www.redcafe.net/threads/gla...or-6-7bn-sale-in-q1-2023.474085/post-29757360). An auction process will basically include four phases, (1) a deadline for bidders to submit indicative offers, (2) a selction of bidders for a short list, (3) negotiations with the bidders on the short list and (4) the appointment of a preferred buyer and final negotiation with the preferred buyer.

In the Chelsea process, especially the deadline for the first step was insane. People more or less only got 2 weeks to prepare their first indicative offer, and this was at a point 'the world was on fire'. The steps in the process after that were not that fast, a week to create the short list and then a month to select a preferred buyer and another month before the deal was closed. If the plan is to be able to close a transaction in the Q1 of 2023, I would imagine that the first deadline is established around the 1st week of January. This is the time consuming part. Everyone are busy around Christmas. If we then assume that the steps following the indicative will consume the same amount of time as in the Chelsea sale, we get something like the timetable set out below. First one for the Chelsea sale, then one for the Manchester United plc sale.



This is of course pure guess work. But if a similar process to the Chelsea FC one is performed -- and there are no major hold-ups, I would imagine it to roughly follow these lines. There have been some talk about how it is a complicated transaction, and that is of course true but could also be a bit misleading. For the Glazers to find a buyer of their shares, is a fairly uncomplicated transaction. However, after we know who the buyer is, it could of course easily take a few months before the owners of the listed shares on the NYSE are bought out (if they even are included in the transaction). I think the most complicated part is in the pure financial negotiations. Manchester United plc is a listed company. The need for a due diligence review to be done on a public company is much smaller than regarding private companies.
I think the Glazers have deliberately asked for waaaay more than Manchester United is worth to keep most people at bay. Realistically the shortlist for a 5-6bn sale is about 5 groups of people worldwide? I just see more and more things that make me believe they are seeking - and have maybe already secured - this investment to keep things running for the foreseeable or more probably until that Super League comes round. I mean with City, PSG, Newcastle, Madrid, maybe Liverpool soon to be super rich, how gutted would the Glazers be to miss out on that huge piece of pie? Thats why I think they would be more likely to form a partnership with Qatar or Dubai or whatever than to sell it off.
 

tenpoless

No 6-pack, just 2Pac
Joined
Oct 20, 2014
Messages
16,417
Location
Ole's ipad
Supports
4-4-2 classic
If they're so rich, just put money in each of the top 4 clubs and call it a successful investment when one of them win the league.
 

Telsim

Full Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2021
Messages
4,966
I think the Glazers have deliberately asked for waaaay more than Manchester United is worth to keep most people at bay. Realistically the shortlist for a 5-6bn sale is about 5 groups of people worldwide? I just see more and more things that make me believe they are seeking - and have maybe already secured - this investment to keep things running for the foreseeable or more probably until that Super League comes round. I mean with City, PSG, Newcastle, Madrid, maybe Liverpool soon to be super rich, how gutted would the Glazers be to miss out on that huge piece of pie? Thats why I think they would be more likely to form a partnership with Qatar or Dubai or whatever than to sell it off.
Yes. The Super League is matter of when, not if. The Glazers know this to be true, but the club's financials are fecked, so they need to do something. I'm certain a full sale is their absolute last resort and they will do anything they can to stay in some capacity. I wouldn't hold my breath for a full sale, despite what has been reported to be the aim of the Raine Group. These people are good at their craft. What they say and what they do are not one and the same.
 

Messier1994

The Swedish Rumble
Joined
Oct 7, 2022
Messages
1,368
I think the Glazers have deliberately asked for waaaay more than Manchester United is worth to keep most people at bay. Realistically the shortlist for a 5-6bn sale is about 5 groups of people worldwide? I just see more and more things that make me believe they are seeking - and have maybe already secured - this investment to keep things running for the foreseeable or more probably until that Super League comes round. I mean with City, PSG, Newcastle, Madrid, maybe Liverpool soon to be super rich, how gutted would the Glazers be to miss out on that huge piece of pie? Thats why I think they would be more likely to form a partnership with Qatar or Dubai or whatever than to sell it off.
Yeah, could be the case for sure. At the same time, you will always have some can kickers. It is a bit hard to set a bar very high, obtaining financing is complicated and takes time. Can you in a deal like this ask people to have financing in place when the indicative bid is made? I think they have to settle with like a 'credible description' of how a transaction would be financed, just guessing. But like you said, it could be more streamlined given the price tag.
 

Oranges038

Full Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
12,352
They can own part of multiple Champions League clubs, but they cannot own a controlling percentage of more than one UCL club. There is no issue with them buying, say, 25% of one of Spurs/United/Liverpool, whilst remaining the owners of PSG.
That must be why it's being suggested that they would invest rather than buying outright. To me it makes it just makes no sense for them to part buy a PL club, particularly Utd. They wouldn't really gain anything from it.

Instead of having one unwanted owner, Utd would have 2.
 

LawCharltonBest

Enjoys watching fox porn
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
15,544
Location
Salford
I woke up at 1:30am last night with a rotten toothache which kept me up for 2 hours plus

So like anyone would, I started thinking about Manchester United's potential takeover

I remember the Athletic saying they would follow the Chelsea sale process (albeit not as rushed) so there would be a cut-off deadline for bidders to declare an interest. And beyond this date no more interest or bidders would be able to join the race (reason why Jim Ratcliffes too-late bid for Chelsea was rejected)

BBC also said they ideally want a sale concluded by Spring

With that in mind, when would this first deadline realistically be? You'd imagine it would need to be soon.
 

AneRu

Full Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2019
Messages
3,193
I think the Glazers have deliberately asked for waaaay more than Manchester United is worth to keep most people at bay. Realistically the shortlist for a 5-6bn sale is about 5 groups of people worldwide? I just see more and more things that make me believe they are seeking - and have maybe already secured - this investment to keep things running for the foreseeable or more probably until that Super League comes round. I mean with City, PSG, Newcastle, Madrid, maybe Liverpool soon to be super rich, how gutted would the Glazers be to miss out on that huge piece of pie? Thats why I think they would be more likely to form a partnership with Qatar or Dubai or whatever than to sell it off.
That's all good from the Glazers' perspective, that's why they've been trying to get a deal like this this for a couple of years, but the biggest question is who, having seen the shitshow they have presided over since Fergie left, would be stupid enough to trust them with a few billions and leave them in control?

Isn't it cheaper to just buy Everton for a fee hundred million, financially dope it and displace a poorly run United from the top four equation like the Saudis have done with Newcastle? With Liverpool also seeking partial investors or a full sale at half the price, better run and still relevant in the hunt for big trophies aren't they a better bet for a minority stake?

I agree with you that a sale is the least preferred option for the two rats in charge and I think there reason why there is no news at all is because no one is seriously contemplating buying the club at its current valuation but I think the odds for a full sale are higher than a partial sale for the reasons stated above.
 

NYAS

Full Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
Messages
4,323
Qatari ownership in PSG has been a shit show. They favour player power over the manager. Ten hag would likely walk if that shit was brought over to our club.
That’s because they happen to have a collection of the most talented yet egotistical footballers in the world.

You think they’ll fire ETH because Harry Maguire is unhappy on the bench?
 

Brophs

The One and Only
Joined
Nov 28, 2006
Messages
50,518
I woke up at 1:30am last night with a rotten toothache which kept me up for 2 hours plus

So like anyone would, I started thinking about Manchester United's potential takeover

I remember the Athletic saying they would follow the Chelsea sale process (albeit not as rushed) so there would be a cut-off deadline for bidders to declare an interest. And beyond this date no more interest or bidders would be able to join the race (reason why Jim Ratcliffes too-late bid for Chelsea was rejected)

BBC also said they ideally want a sale concluded by Spring

With that in mind, when would this first deadline realistically be? You'd imagine it would need to be soon.
I’m reasonably sure that they made clear around that time of Raine being announced that albeit the shape of the Chelsea deal would be followed, there wouldn’t be the same time pressure/deadlines as were obviously necessary in that case.
 

LawCharltonBest

Enjoys watching fox porn
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
15,544
Location
Salford
Yes. The Super League is matter of when, not if. The Glazers know this to be true, but the club's financials are fecked, so they need to do something. I'm certain a full sale is their absolute last resort and they will do anything they can to stay in some capacity. I wouldn't hold my breath for a full sale, despite what has been reported to be the aim of the Raine Group. These people are good at their craft. What they say and what they do are not one and the same.
Getting a part ownership of United wouldn't be the same as any other club. Not even just the sheer price of the club. But every savvy businessman and even the Glazers know capital investment is needed for United to maintain its value over the next decade as it's falling behind all other top clubs drastically.

Therefore anybody willing to part-own the club:

A) Will have to fund the entirety of the capital investment (North of £1bn)
B) Pay the Glazers for a % of their shares (say 25% - could still be a further £1bn-£2bn) - the Glazers would not use this money or any other of their own money on the club and investors know this
C) Have to work under the Glazers, who every businessman knows won't invest into the club, do not care about the clubs success and are atrocious football club owners
D) Have absolutely no say in the running of the club after paying Billions to fund everything with no help of the Glazers

On the flip side, for 25% of Spurs, they wouldn't need to pay any capital investment, they'd be working with an owner who will be willing to help towards cost (true of any owners in top flight European football except Man Utd) and would likely have more say in the running of the club. All for a fraction of the price.

Even if some investor(s) had the idea to get 25% of the club now with a view to raising enough capital to take the club over a couple of years down the line, they'd know the Glazers will be a hard sell. Especially if another super league comes up where the Glazers can line their own pockets more. In short, no investor with billions to spare is going to be stupid enough to put any trust in the Glazers with their money. Why would they?

The Glazers getting an investor is an absolute non-starter. Whether it's Qatar, Dubai, Americand, Ratcliffe.. It'll be a full sale. No question about that
 

Son

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2019
Messages
1,744
Please no. Not Qatar. I hate PSG with a passion and their arrogant owner.

I don’t respect the way they do business in the shadows. Worse than Perez at Madrid and I wouldn’t want that egotistical clown anywhere near our club either.
 

cyberman

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
37,331
Yes. The Super League is matter of when, not if. The Glazers know this to be true, but the club's financials are fecked, so they need to do something. I'm certain a full sale is their absolute last resort and they will do anything they can to stay in some capacity. I wouldn't hold my breath for a full sale, despite what has been reported to be the aim of the Raine Group. These people are good at their craft. What they say and what they do are not one and the same.
It’ll never happen. If the English clubs didn’t back down the UK government were primed to change the laws and make participation illegal anyway.
There’s literally no avenue they can go down that will ever make a SL a possibility
 

LawCharltonBest

Enjoys watching fox porn
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
15,544
Location
Salford
I’m reasonably sure that they made clear around that time of Raine being announced that albeit the shape of the Chelsea deal would be followed, there wouldn’t be the same time pressure/deadlines as were obviously necessary in that case.
I realise this. But the Glazers will also want it sorted asap. If their ideal deadline for a sale being completed is April 1st for example, they'll at least need to have a confirmed shortlist well in advance of that

Also if the Glazers are still here in the Summer transfer window, still looking to sell and still not allowing any major expenses until a sale is completed, then it's going to cause a very toxic atmosphere among the fans, management and probably even the players who will start to question the future direction of a club not signing any new players
 

VP89

Pogba's biggest fan
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
31,941
That’s because they happen to have a collection of the most talented yet egotistical footballers in the world.

You think they’ll fire ETH because Harry Maguire is unhappy on the bench?
You think they wouldn't replicate that collection if they bought United?
 

Telsim

Full Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2021
Messages
4,966
Getting a part ownership of United wouldn't be the same as any other club. Not even just the sheer price of the club. But every savvy businessman and even the Glazers know capital investment is needed for United to maintain its value over the next decade as it's falling behind all other top clubs drastically.

Therefore anybody willing to part-own the club:

A) Will have to fund the entirety of the capital investment (North of £1bn)
B) Pay the Glazers for a % of their shares (say 25% - could still be a further £1bn-£2bn) - the Glazers would not use this money or any other of their own money on the club and investors know this
C) Have to work under the Glazers, who every businessman knows won't invest into the club, do not care about the clubs success and are atrocious football club owners
D) Have absolutely no say in the running of the club after paying Billions to fund everything with no help of the Glazers

On the flip side, for 25% of Spurs, they wouldn't need to pay any capital investment, they'd be working with an owner who will be willing to help towards cost (true of any owners in top flight European football except Man Utd) and would likely have more say in the running of the club. All for a fraction of the price.

Even if some investor(s) had the idea to get 25% of the club now with a view to raising enough capital to take the club over a couple of years down the line, they'd know the Glazers will be a hard sell. Especially if another super league comes up where the Glazers can line their own pockets more. In short, no investor with billions to spare is going to be stupid enough to put any trust in the Glazers with their money. Why would they?

The Glazers getting an investor is an absolute non-starter. Whether it's Qatar, Dubai, Americand, Ratcliffe.. It'll be a full sale. No question about that
Why would an investor have to work under the Glazers and not alongside them, though? They could easily make decisions together. Even more if it's the Qatari. They own many businesses and it would be unwise by the Glazers to get on their bad side. Besides, the parasites have never ruled with some clear-cut long term vision that would suggest intolerance to anything that would deviate from that. So the chances for conflict between them and the other party is low. Long as it makes money, they don't give a feck. Thus, a partial sale is very, very likely.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.