Club Sale | It’s done!

[Samid]

Arnold attended uni with Woodward and they've been close ever since. Woodward played a big part in Glazers buying the club. They were aided by JP Morgan, Woodward's former employer, who now are closely linked to Ratcliffe's bid. It's a vicious and rotten circle and we need to get out of it. All these bankers with close ties to the current regime need to be binned by the new one.

The world we need won't be built by men loyal to the world we have.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

That is what I worry about, they have to keep a link for him. Not all the new owners men who he has no relationship with. I would be keeping Murtough.

Ten Hag has only been at the club for a few months so it's not as if his relationship with Murtough is that strong. I suspect they will keep Fletcher as a Technical Director.

In any case I am still not convinced this bid will go through all the due diligence that will come of it.

 

[Revan]

The current football structure doesn't just happen to be in place above ETH, it actively appointed him and is invested in him as a result.

It's unlikely that anyone would look to replace him at the moment given how well he's doing. But if in the future things aren't going so well and he's under pressure, I think it's fair to think new appointees are probably less likely to show sustained patience than the people who actually hired him.

As it should be. Showing a ridiculous amount of patience to Moyes, van Gaal, Mourinho and Ole is one of the main reasons for having been shit for the last decade.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Ten Hag has only been at the club for a few months so it's not as if his relationship with Murtough is that strong. I suspect they will keep Fletcher as a Technical Director.

In any case I am still not convinced this bid will go through all the due diligence that will come of it.

The media are definitely banging the drum for it not to go through.

 

[Moby]

The world we need won't be built by men loyal to the world we have.

Calm down Danaerys Targaryen

 

[AltiUn]

The media are definitely banging the drum for it not to go through.

Think a lot of them are shitting themselves at the prospect of United no longer being hamstrung.

 

[shamans]

I'm sure the majority will want Qatar. The majority of our fans have never been within thousands of miles of Manchester, I do not expect this to trouble them at all. I find all outcomes sad and troubling, whatever the result, it's not something I'll be celebrating.

I have been to Manchester several times now. The stadium needs renovating and the surrounding areas could really use some investment

 

[Raoul]

Didn't we already just have that? Where has that gotten us? Sure, I dislike the idea of state ownership more than anyone, but the league is already rigged and United already suffered for 20 years under one of the most incompetent football ownerships in all of history. On that note, can we also drop the 'sportswashing' narrative? Qataris don't need to sportswash, they're already very well integrated into the business sphere with the West. The purpose of buying United is simply exposure, mainly tourism as they diverse from fossil fuels.

The principle still applies to the Glazers, as despite their incompetence, they have still reacted to bad post Fergie performances by making changes, as not doing so (even for them as ignorant of football owners) would've resulted in a loss of brand value. Its much easier and profitable for them to sell an aspirational United on the way back up than one languishing in mid table mediocrity.

 

[El General 1994]

Arnold attended uni with Woodward and they've been close ever since. Woodward played a big part in Glazers buying the club. They were aided by JP Morgan, Woodward's former employer, who now are closely linked to Ratcliffe's bid. It's a vicious and rotten circle and we need to get out of it. All these bankers with close ties to the current regime need to be binned by the new one.

The world we need won't be built by men loyal to the world we have.

Edit: Just seen Moby's post -

 

[Chairman Steve]

Yep. Arnold and Murtough will be straight out the door, one would think.

I'd expect any new owner to keep Ten Hag, but obviously the relationship with the future CEO/DoF will be key to whether he stays long term.

I could see Murtough staying as he’s not really a Glazer suit, unlike Arnold.

Whoever the new owner is, theyll probably hold fire on that and wait and see how it develops. If His Highness of Qatar is a huge United fan as has been written, surely he can see that ever since Woodward left and Murtough gained power, the decision making has been a lot better.

 

[Samid]

Calm down Danaerys Targaryen

 

[FlawlessThaw]

The media are definitely banging the drum for it not to go through.

Definitely, this is going to be too complicated for the Premier League to deal with with human rights agencies involved as well. Newcastle are too small fry for people outside of football to care about.

Easier for them we just get bought out by some US Investment firm that leeches off of us.

 

[Irrational.]

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Incentives for who?

 

[devilish]

Calm down Danaerys Targaryen

kaleesi

 

[Raoul]

Yup, definitely. I would have preferred a super-rich billionaire like Musk, Bezos if they would have bough the club with their own money, or a corporate like Apple compared to a state entity. But a company who is worth just 10 times as much as the club, won't spend 5-6B in United just to have it as its plaything. The shareholders will want their money back one way or another. No shareholder will be happy with the company getting 5-6B in debt to buy United and then run it as a non profitable business, instead they would prefer stock buybacks or dividends. Which is why the likes of Radcliffe buying United (together with Glazers keeping it) are by far the worst options IMO.

As we've seen with Musk and Twitter, the owner has been forced to gradually moderate his behavior or else risk more advertisers fleeing the platform and users gravitating towards alternative platforms. And he's the so called richest man in the world. Autocrats with bottomless pockets generally don't have such constraints.

 

[westmeath]

I feel really sad about the sale to Qatar. Been supporting United for more than 40 years and always believed we stood for something. For me it all goes back to Matt Busby and his vision for United.
Sportswashing is not acceptable. I am not thinking of boycotting or anything but I really hate this deal, if it happens.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Think a lot of them are shitting themselves at the prospect of United no longer being hamstrung.

Definitely. They will say it is morals, but most of them couldn't give a bugger about morals. Before the World Cup they were bringing human rights up, then once they were there telling everybody what a great time they were having.

 

[sparx99]

Being serious about things.

Many will feel the same way. I'm sure most of us too would want 'better' owners given the choice but we live in the real world and you have to come to terms with that.

My thoughts, opinions, or objections are absolutely meaningless and I have realized this fact. I still don't like the idea of Saudi/Qatar and ideally, it would be someone else but I don't see who can outbid them so I've had to come to terms with that.

I think they may benefit the club in many different ways but that is absolutely not the same as me explicitly supporting their regime or cultural values in any way shape or form.

The Glazers are a big reason for fans 'acceptance' of what is about to happen to the club.

I wonder what the Glazers views are. There is a good chance they are Christian and very anti LGBT too. We just don’t know because they are so reclusive.

 

[devilish]

Incentives for who?

I heard somewhere that Ratcliffe might take all the Glazers debt on board

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Calm down Danaerys Targaryen

 

[AlPistacho]

Just as a quick one mate - how do you know all of this? Whereabouts in the world are you that you’re able to ignore all this propaganda?

England. Was the build up to the Iraq war and media reporting (or lack of) once it started that opened my eyes. They literally celebrated operation “Shock and Awe” but then it struck me… all these bombs dropping are people not dying ? And for several years the media didn’t mention civilian deaths, then social media sites starting coming up between 2006-2008, and it took a while for news channels to clock on that some people were aware of major news they were completely ignoring.

From the media have to give respect to Glen Greenwald (had his offices raided, and regularly detained at Airports) probably the only one who did his job during the invasion and occupation and tried to report without any spin. That it was an unfavourable truth is not really his fault.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

I feel really sad about the sale to Qatar. Been supporting United for more than 40 years and always believed we stood for something. For me it all goes back to Matt Busby and his vision for United.
Sportswashing is not acceptable. I am not thinking of boycotting or anything but I really hate this deal, if it happens.

Think the majority of us are not entirely happy, but if we had been run properly by the Glazers we would not have been left in such a vulnerable position.

 

[Tom Van Persie]

That is what I worry about, they have to keep a link for him. Not all the new owners men who he has no relationship with. I would be keeping Murtough.

Getting rid of the people who appointed ten Hag and who he clearly works well with doesn't sound like a great idea to me either. Whoever the new owner is better back that man and keep him happy.

 

[MTF]

The current football structure doesn't just happen to be in place above ETH, it actively appointed him and is invested in him as a result.

It's unlikely that anyone would look to replace him at the moment given how well he's doing. But if in the future things aren't going so well and he's under pressure, I think it's fair to think new appointees are probably less likely to show sustained patience than the people who actually hired him.

That doesn't mean new owners shouldn't make changes. Just that we shouldn't be so quick to delight in them doing so without cause. All it takes is for them to appoint some idiot as DOF and things can quickly go to shit.

A lot of people are really underestimating this possibility.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Getting rid of the people who appointed ten Hag and who he clearly works well with doesn't sound like a great idea to me either. Whoever the new owner is better back that man and keep him happy.

They need to or it could go pear shape very quickly. Otherwise we could be changing manager time after time, without the success you can easily get in Ligue 1.

 

[Telsim]

I wonder what the Glazers views are. There is a good chance they are Christian and very anti LGBT too. We just don’t know because they are so reclusive.

My friend, there is only one god they really believe in and he ain't up in the sky, I can tell you that much.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

I have been to Manchester several times now. The stadium needs renovating and the surrounding areas could really use some investment

Really!?

 

[Boycott]

England. Was the build up to the Iraq war and media reporting (or lack of) once it started that opened my eyes. They literally celebrated operation “Shock and Awe” but then it struck me… all these bombs dropping are people not dying ? And for several years the media didn’t mention civilian deaths, then social media sites starting coming up between 2006-2008, and it took a while for news channels to clock on that some people were aware of major news they were completely ignoring.

The million people marching through London against the invasion happened before social media came up. It didn't need social media to gather all those people.

 

[pratyush_utd]

Incentives for who?

Think some kind of assurances that they will invest in infrastructure

 

[Rockets Redglare]

I wonder what the Glazers views are. There is a good chance they are Christian and very anti LGBT too. We just don’t know because they are so reclusive.

They’re Jewish.

 

[Amsterdam Devil]

They are basically are a PR club. Man United arent. There's a world of difference. They slapped the Jordan logo on their kits to try and legitimize them across the world. They signed Messi, Neymar and gave Mbappe the world just to stay so people could think they're a brand in world football like Real, Barca or United. In United you are literally buying the exact opposite of PSG. A club who hasnt won anything for years and remains one of the biggest clubs on earth and the best supported.

But isn’t their goal the same? PR and sportswashing.

Or does it not matter what their goals are as long as we are succesfull?

I’m still on the fence really, i don’t really know what is best for the club, short term or long term.

 

[Mockney]

You only need to look at city, psg and even newcastle to see how effective it has been.

PSG - the only ones actually owned by Qatar - have been an absolute shit show, and actively engaged in exactly the same stupid galactico policy as Woodward. Big whoop they’ve won the French league a lot.

 

[Varun1]

surely the decision to chase FDJ for that long was largely ETH's to make

That's not how it works. If it's a good thing then it's on ETH. If it's a bad thing then it's on the board.

/s

 

[MTF]

I wonder what the Glazers views are. There is a good chance they are Christian and very anti LGBT too. We just don’t know because they are so reclusive.

They're Jewish.... "there is a good chance"... ffs, the things people say.

I have no idea on their views re: LGBT.

 

[sglowrider]

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We’re going to rip everything up just when we’ve got our shit together.

Murtough and ETH plus the rest of the footballing side will be safe.
The CEO position was always teneous since Arnolds the money guy and is a glazers guy.
But if the qataris are sensible they will keep Arnold for now. Have a co-ceo until it's necessary to change.

 

[Revan]

As we've seen with Musk and Twitter, the owner has been forced to gradually moderate his behavior or else risk more advertisers fleeing the platform and users gravitating towards alternative platforms. And he's the so called richest man in the world. Autocrats with bottomless pockets generally don't have such constraints.

Indeed. For me the preference would be:

1) Some ultra rich guy who is passionate about United, and buys the club with their own money.
2) Some massive corporation (Apple, Amazon, Meta etc).
3) States
4) Someone super-rich but who still needs outside money (from banks).
5) Glazers
6) Another leveraged buy.

With the first two options not happening, Qatari is the best we can get.

 

[Godfather]

PSG - the only ones actually owned by Qatar - have been an absolute shit show, and actively engaged in exactly the same stupid galactico policy as Woodward. Big whoop they’ve won the French league a lot.

Hard for them to win any other league though isn't it. Granted they should have done better in the CL but domestically they are a force. Unlike another team that's owned by a bidder for us.

Would I want all these prima donnas at United? No. But I don't think they'd handle us like they do PSG. They are pretty much a PR club which is simply not needed here.

 

[Rolaholic]

I wonder what the Glazers views are. There is a good chance they are Christian and very anti LGBT too. We just don’t know because they are so reclusive.

They're Jewish

 

[Orange Tree]

The media are definitely banging the drum for it not to go through.

The more they do this, the more I'm warming up to the idea.

 

[Red_Heisenberg]

I kind of want the Glazers to stay now. Seemingly this sale is going to split the whole fanbase and to be honest I can see it getting quite toxic on here regardless of who buys the club (if this thread is anything to go by). I think it would be better to just keep the Glazers, the whole of the fanbase is happy enough to just keep saying Glazers out and we keep on the trajectory we are on with Erik. Happy days!!

What in the Stockholm syndrome feck is this?