Club Sale | It’s done!

[Wilt]

Liverpool is the remaining big name left.

Didn’t think Liverpool were interested in selling, but suppose everything has a price.

 

[Drizzle]

I had the feeling he cared more. Hence he wanted to settle the debt, get rid of the Glazers and was much clearer about his investment plans into the club

Fair enough. We don't know for sure. He certainly had better pr. From the start he basically insulted the Glazers and went over their heads to appeal directly to the fans.

As fans, we of course agreed with the sentiments, but this was not a smart way of conducting business with sellers who are notoriously greedy and stubborn and who weren't persuaded to sell the club 100%.

 

[mitchmouse]

But it’s all irrelevant if you aren’t able to actually do a deal with the owners. The Qatari bid couldn’t clear the first hurdle, they were just PR and not enough substance.

If the Qatari’s desperately wanted the club they’d have bought it.

they were the only ones going all out for full ownership - it's hardly their fault that £5bn+ wasn't enough the the vampire owners. Now we are no better off

 

[mitchmouse]

So, no new owner - we're f@cked

 

[WYVERNUNITED99]

So, no new owner - we're f@cked

So, no new owner - we're f@cked

Pretty much

 

[Buster15]

I wish his disciples could see that too

Disciples. Strange name to describe those loyal Manchester United supporters who are either just hopeful like me, or convinced that he might facilitate a positive change in the way our club is run.
People always see things as either black or white. Which is not always the case.

 

[Roboc7]

they were the only ones going all out for full ownership - it's hardly their fault that £5bn+ wasn't enough the the vampire owners. Now we are no better off

They spent something like 200 billion to host the World Cup, if it was genuinely a state backed bid and they really wanted to own the club they would have done. They couldn’t/wouldn’t get a deal done so all their PR is meaningless.

 

[Lyng]

Disciples. Strange name to describe those loyal Manchester United supporters who are either just hopeful like me, or convinced that he might facilitate a positive change in the way our club is run.
People always see things as either black or white. Which is not always the case.

How anyone can be hopeful when you see his absolute disaster at Nice is beyond me. The Glazers are staying. We have simply added another incompetent owner to our list. Nothing will change for the better.
I can certainly understand people celebrating that we arent state owned. There is nothing to celebrate about Ratcliffe though. He is in bed with the glazers and his company is in bed with the Saudis.

 

[Rampant Red Rodriguez]

But it’s all irrelevant if you aren’t able to actually do a deal with the owners. The Qatari bid couldn’t clear the first hurdle, they were just PR and not enough substance.

If the Qatari’s desperately wanted the club they’d have bought it.

QIG bid of £5.5Bn was almost double the current market price for the club. The Glazers are smoking strong drugs. If they do not clear the debt, I think they will be forced to take more and more money from JR in exchange for equity as times goes on. This is another situation for the club to deal with. But maybe with SJR this side of the Atlantic he can run the club more efficiently than the Glazers do right now sitting in Florida?. Much to be dwelled on coming events...

 

[TheGodsInRed]

QIG bid of £5.5Bn was almost double the current market price for the club. The Glazers are smoking strong drugs. If they do not clear the debt, I think they will be forced to take more and more money from JR in exchange for equity as times goes on. This is another situation for the club to deal with. But maybe with Sir James Arthur Ratcliffe FIChemE this side of the Atlantic he can run the club more efficiently than the Glazers do right now sitting in Florida?. Much to be dwelled on coming events...

The stock price isn't the real worth of the club. They clearly think they can get more than double in the future and are probably right.

 

[Drizzle]

How anyone can be hopeful when you see his absolute disaster at Nice is beyond me.

https://www.skysports.com/ligue-1-table

 

[Lyng]

https://www.skysports.com/ligue-1-table

Lets see the table at the end of the season. PSG have a disaster season.

 

[BusbySAFDreams1]

A sad day for us fans. It hurts more knowing Newcastle will kick us out of the top 4 eventually

 

[Darlington Padgett]

Didn’t think Liverpool were interested in selling, but suppose everything has a price.

They just sold a minority stake at a valuation of 4.5 billion. You might see that as a sign of them wanting to stay or just to set a price at the highest valuation.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Woke up thinking this is a nightmare.

Nope, its all real.

 

[MDFC Manager]

They just sold a minority stake at a valuation of 4.5 billion. You might see that as a sign of them wanting to stay or just to set a price at the highest valuation.

In the case of Liverpool, it was confirmed that all money from that investment goes into the club. It was a small amount, but still.

 

[IncyWincySpider]

All Qatar were interested in was a sports washing project. They were never going to pay that much money for a football club, they were just laying down a marker. It was obvious they weren't serious back in the spring when their bids were lower than Jim's every step of the way. They never wanted to win.

They'll come in for a much cheaper club or just some large scale sponsorship deals. Their goals don't require six billion dollars to achieve.

 

[rpitchfo]

So where are we now? What happens next do we think?

 

[UnitedSofa]

This is for the best, Sir Jim will have sporting control and most likely appoint Paul Mitchell to run things. Which is better than the Qatari's giving Rio and Evra power...

Mitchell will be a disaster

 

[Acole9]

I can understand the disappointment but in all honesty what's changed, Jassim has gone from not buying the club to still not buying the club.

 

[TheGodsInRed]

I would hope that the 4 minor Glazers stand down next week

25% is 2 glazer shares so I reckon 2 step down and 4 stay on. Maybe 2 have a pull and call option. I think Avram and Joel have no interest in leaving.

 

[Roboc7]

All Qatar were interested in was a sports washing project. They were never going to pay that much money for a football club, they were just laying down a marker. It was obvious they weren't serious back in the spring when their bids were lower than Jim's every step of the way. They never wanted to win.

They'll come in for a much cheaper club or just some large scale sponsorship deals. Their goals don't require six billion dollars to achieve.

There are definitely doubts about how viable/serious their bid was. The way they have operated has been more focused on PR than ensuring they won the bidding process. Said before I think they were possibly kept in the process to pressure INEOS.

 

[MancunianAngels]

A sad day for us fans. It hurts more knowing Newcastle will kick us out of the top 4 eventually

It's a great day.

 

[Champ]

When are you Ratcliffe supporters gonna realise it wasn't about state ownership it was clearing the debt,investment in players,training ground,stadium and women's team that was the attraction of bid but hopes are now dead

Who says this won't happen under INEOs?
Should they aquire 25% of whatever has been mooted they can then start investing in said infrastructure, and then start chipping away at the Glazers as and when.
Not sure why this isn't feasible.

 

[greenoffpearson]

Disappointed, but I hope Sir Jim delivers.

We won't know the details and may never know, but the next steps may be revealing, board meeting, club statement to NYSE etc.

However still many questions are swirling around.

1 Why did Jassim withdraw , face saving? But this had been the most farcical process that even experts had witnessed

2 Are the Glazers actually happy ?

3 Board members - is it a given that they will rubber stamp this.

4 Investment groups, what will be their response

5 Is it a structured takeover, then different levels of disclosure and duties apply

6 Sir Jim buying B class shares means that those shares become A class shares, as things sit now, so will they change the rules/ constitution/memo articles of the club. More time and compliance and duty to shareholders.

Obviously we will have to wait and see how things pan out.

 

[andersj]

It has seemed clear for awhile that there will be several multi-club models in european footall in the years to come. It is a direction few fans like, but another development that we can do very little about.

In my opinion, it is a development that UEFA/FIFA should have blocked entirely several years ago. Even the City Group one where they dont compete against eachother. It makes the competition boring.

That being said, when we are here, as Man Utd-fan there is aspects of the model that will be interesting. I do think Man Utd, Nice and Lausanne could profit on each other. There are synergies to be made from the model. And I think it could make all clubs more competitive.

- Man Utd will probably gain access to a wider pool of talents (especially considering the Brexit)
- Nice and Lausanne will probably be more attractive and competitive to young talents competing with Red Bull etc.
- It gives Man Utd a good platform for young talents

I know alot of fans are really upset about Glazer staying for longer and Ratcliffe taking over. I’m not sure why people dislike Ineos/Ratcliffe so much. I get the feeling it is a mix of

A) Him not being Sheik Jassim with «unlimited» funds like NUFC and Man City
B) Ineos not doing great with Nice/Lausanne.
C) The manner of the takeover
(D) Him actually being a Chelseafan?!)

Does that sum it up?

I do get it (maybe not D). It is fair to an extent. But I’m just so glad to see the start of Glazer leaving. I also think Ineos has potential where Glazer really did not. Management of the club. The multi club-model is, in my opinion, a reflection of that.

A lot is being made of Bailsford etc., but Ineos seems intent on finding competent people with experience to manage their football department. That alone seems like a step in the right direction.

 

[Longshanks]

Lets see the table at the end of the season. PSG have a disaster season.

True but the fact is Nice currently sit 2nd.

They have finished 6th, 9th, 5th then 9th so far in SJR's reign.

In the 5 years previous to SJR they finished 11th, 4th, 3rd, 7th then 8th.

Fair to say that Nice haven't had the success that was expected yet, but certainly not the complete disaster that you are trying to make out. There a mid table club performing like a mid table club.

It's reasonable that with SJR's wealth they should of done better and mistakes have certainly been made, but it's not been a disaster by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[NinjaZombie]

I never had a preference for either of them but once it was clear INEOS winning meant Glazers staying, I was Qatar in all the way.

Kind of a bummer how it's all turned out. It's been a decade without any sustained success and I think it's beginning to show over here where I live. I've seen loads of kids wearing City kits, more than in the past.

Ah well. I've seen us win enough trophies to last a lifetime.

 

[Rojofiam]

3 Board members - is it a given that they will rubber stamp this.

As far as I'm aware, the Glazers have a 96% vote control there so this should be a formality.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

I know alot of fans are really upset about Glazer staying for longer and Ratcliffe taking over. I’m not sure why people dislike Ineos/Ratcliffe so much. I get the feeling it is a mix of

You answered your own question. What we need is the Glazers fecking off for good. With Ratcliffe owning just 25%, the Glazers still have the right to veto him. How is that different from the current situation?

 

[Buster15]

How anyone can be hopeful when you see his absolute disaster at Nice is beyond me. The Glazers are staying. We have simply added another incompetent owner to our list. Nothing will change for the better.
I can certainly understand people celebrating that we arent state owned. There is nothing to celebrate about Ratcliffe though. He is in bed with the glazers and his company is in bed with the Saudis.

Ok. To be honest I have not been looking at what has happened at Nice. Could you please give me a brief summary.

 

[Lay]

https://www.skysports.com/ligue-1-table

That doesn’t mean anything. It’s the club that has signed Ross Barkley, Aaron Ramsey and Kasper Schmeichel in an attempt to move up the table. That’s the level of incompetence they’re showing at that club. They’re badly run and OGC Nice fans will tell you that

 

[MDFC Manager]

Well that’s probably us being confirmed to stay a mid table clubs for the foreseeable future. So it makes sense we kept players like Maguire and McTominay.

Yup, in the long run it's good. Now we know our fate and can tune down expectations right away. The team by the way is already doing that, this season.

 

[fallengt]

So Glazers rejected 8b offer because a portion of it wouldn't go to their pocket and we have people here whom welcome their stay.
Jesus

 

[Xaviboy]

Next few weeks could be absolute shite for this club following this news. Face an exit from champions league, a hammering from City and Newcastle.

Sorry for being doom and gloom but its way season been so far.

 

[DRJosh]

Just goes to show how fans mean so little to the owners and club management.

They know that none of these protests or boycotts will actually eventuate to anything. The owners seem to be well accustomed to their status as footballing villains and in fact they are thriving off it.

A tragic day for us fans who have spent a good chunk of our lives loving this once great footballing institution.

 

[Drizzle]

That doesn’t mean anything. It’s the club that has signed Ross Barkley, Aaron Ramsey and Kasper Schmeichel in an attempt to move up the table. That’s the level of incompetence they’re showing at that club. They’re badly run and OGC Nice fans will tell you that

My impression is that it was badly run but is starting to look a lot better. My hope is that INEOS have learned a few things from this. We'll see.

 

[cyberman]

https://www.skysports.com/ligue-1-table

Spurs are top of the EPL as well

 

[greenoffpearson]

As far as I'm aware, the Glazers have a 96% vote control there so this should be a formality.

Yes ,they will get it through , if placed before the board, I was just considering the actions of the independent members , who apparently were being reminded of their responsibilities to all shareholders. That said even the Glazers as board members technically wear an independent hat. We will see how they frame this and how the investment groups respond.

 

[The Purley King]

Utterly disastrous news.
Can’t say any more than that