So, Stephen dropped this video today on the rumours about the potential Saudi takeover of Manchester United. Jim White is a journalist for The Telegraph and is also a fellow United supporter. I thought that the video was a nice summary of the million threads in the cafe since the rumours started last year. Jim addresses 'sportswashing' as well as Abu dhabi's investment in Manchester City and the city as a whole.
Stephen Howson's podcast with Jim White
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Is it okay? Can it be fixed?
Good listen.
It was but bloody depressing at the same time
Can somebody summarise the most important stuff of the Saudi part?
We're basically fecked either way.
Yep we're either owned by leaches (i.e. the Glazers) who will take more than they give or murderers who admittedly on the field will try and turn us into PSG in terms of player purchases
I thought you meant that arse from Sky Sports News.
That there is smoke and interest.
That if or when it does happen, the development would be seen in the stock market as they would have to purchase shares. That's how Glazers did it with us, by buying from larger investors until they made up a majority.
Glazers don't need to give any notice or any heads up as major shareholders if they decided to sell.
Yep, very true.It was but bloody depressing at the same time
Yea but Jim White also said that no one truly knows if the interest in United from Saudis is real. But what they do agree on is that they will buy a football team soon enough. If it isn't United, it more likely than not will be Lfc (imo).
Yeah, no one knows for sure but it's obvious it's us if they're trying to buy a club. He's pointing to Richard Arnold going out there for broader marketing, the existing sponsorship deals we have with them and the fact that other family members are rumoured to want to sell.
Everyone buy some shares...
I think it's slightly different from when the Glazers took over, not that I have much knowledge of the stocks work and I'm prepared to be wildly wrong/happy to be corrected.
As far as I understand it only a certain percentage of United is publicly traded. The Glazers hold the part that isn't and that's the majority. So even if someone bought all of the shares on the market they wouldn't have control. It's the public float and shares outstanding figures on the left hand column on this page that shows that status - https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/Man Utd
It might well be beneficial to start buying up the publicly traded shares first, I don't know. If they or anyone did start buying loads then the prices would go up as you (or them on the vid) said.
I think they could just buy Glazer's shares off them privately too and keep the publicly traded section going. Mind you, that would have to be announced to the market so it would impact the stock that remains too. Prices would almost certainly jump up there too as far as I understand.
Edit: Sorry, my attempts to link to our stock market page has failed. Red Cafe is automatically changing the name of our share listing M A N U (without the spaces) to Man Utd as far as I can tell. I know some people think M A N U is offensive so I'm guessing that's why? To actually see what I was referencing regarding public float and shares outstanding people can type M A N U (without spaces) into the symbol lookup box on that link instead.
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Agree that we are the likeliest team to be bought by them. But I'm sure there were rumours a couple of years back about the Saudis being interested in Lfc.
Oh it's that guy who said De Light to ManUtd was on
What also was quite funny was them discussing Ed's attempt at saying their new way of scouting players work.
802 players scouted and then chose AWB. Genius.
802 players scouted and then chose AWB. Genius.
It's a shame the other threads on the subject are closed because I would be interested to know how many could care less who owns us if it were to mean PSG levels of investment on the playing staff?
Given the way things have gone for us recently though we'd probably still be slugging it out in a top 4 battle regardless of them coming in
Given the way things have gone for us recently though we'd probably still be slugging it out in a top 4 battle regardless of them coming in
I don't understand why all these threads are being banned and there is no survey on how many would or would not like the Saudis.
Threads like that are always going to invoke political views, tangents and comments that generally skate very close to the line so basically very hard to moderate so I do get it. Wouldn't be a problem if people could just play by the rules and discuss the matter in hand
Very true. Like it or not, links are there and it is a football club matter, so should stay open. Whether people like it or not, they can choose to contribute to the thread or not.