Let’s assume this is true, and let’s assume he will use £500m of his own money and £1.25 billion of INEOS or money borrowed against INEOS. I addd the £245m which is the first stage of his planned investment.
There is no way Sir Jim would guarantee that investment without having a pathway for majority ownership. He may use the investment as part of the deal to generate more shares and increase his stakeholder this way, that’s only logical.
He has two ways to go, he can use INEOS to invest and receive shares for this, this diluting the Glazers ownership. They still currently will own about 51% of the club after the 25% investment, however this might change to more of 40/30/30 split but they still would have control of voting b class shares. He may also have an agreed path to buy enough shares in 2026/27 after this investment has played out and therefore created a new valuation of the club of maybe £7-7.5billion, he would have enough shares possible now a 51% majority with the glazers maybe holding 26% and majority 23% for a further 2-3 years where INEOS buys the remainder and takes the club off the NYSE.
Pros;
He’s 71, might really be United very own Sir Jack Walker who won the PL with Blackburn, people forget that before Abrahmovic there was SJW and a team who now languish 10th in the championship.
He’s currently listed as the UK’s second wealthiest person with an estimated £30 billion, that’s three times what Abrahmovic was worth and 1 and half times Sheikh Mansour.
He’s 71 and this looks like a vanity project which INEOS will benefit from too but time is not on his side so you can rest assured he will want Infrastructure , Training ground, squad improvements and a new stadium completed in the shortest time possible. So trying to have this in place as an elite club challenging again before his 75th Birthday is only logical.
He can cleverly use resources at Nice since he is a minority share holder at United and he can appoint separate boards of control like red bull do with Leipzig and Salzburg. He can afford to let Martial go on free in January, Antony sold for 25% of what we paid and DVB sold for £5-10m. He will want to purge and clear the decks, he’s clearly had Paul Mitchell watching games around Europe and South America to identify which young driven players can instantly improve the squad, I have a feeling he’s so hands on he will listen to the English players like Maguire and Sancho and gave some sympathy for them but not completely.
ETH is under pressure from today and he has no given right to assume that if he carries on with a 53% loss record he will remain in charge beyond December the 1st.
INEOS have set aside £1.6-1.75 billion, the training ground at carington will cost £200m, new infrastructure changes £100m, a stadium refurbishment of old Trafford to 90,000 will be £1 billion leaving very little for new squad investment or more importantly clearing the debt which would help significantly, we need a full interview where Sir Jim outlines everything!
Cons;
The Glazers remain, that in its own right is enough to make the fan base loathe Sir Jim.
His record with other football clubs is diabolical, with the exception of a good start by Nice this year. Two players from Nice Todibo and K Thurham could instantly improve united thus season but why would he and why would the Nice board allow two of their best players to leave when they are more likely to win a domestic title this season and play CL football next season. Can’t see any of these transfers happening, certainly not in January.
The club desperately needs an elite CF like Ivan Toney or Victor Osimhen and in place by January 1st, I just can’t see Sir Jim bankrolling or agreeing to any transfer over £80m?
They also need a mobile young dynamic CB and a mobile/physical 6/8 that’s going to cost at least another £80m . The instant fix for united is sell or remove from the club Martial, Antony, DVB in the winter transfer window. Sell or release these players and that frees up £500k per week in wages and allows you to instantly improve your squad. Sancho is miles better than Antony and although his behaviour is appalling, ETH clearly shows favouritism with players he signed!
There’s still that little about Sir Jim that makes you think you can’t really quite trust him and INEOS, this is a supposed stalwart united fan who also tried to buy Chelsea and Barcelona?
