The seemingly imminent sale of Manchester United by long time owners The Glazers has to be one of the biggest pieces of Man United news around right now, but there is still so much up in the air.
Several official bids have been filed, some more likely than others, and speculation is rife among media members and fans as to the positives and negatives of each approach.
Perhaps the three most eye-opening parties to submit their interest are Qatari billionnaire Sheikh Jassim, the owner of engineering firm INEOS Jim Ratcliffe, and Finnish social media mogul Thomas Zilliacus.
Each bidder have their own motives, ideas and controversies, but how would a takeover from each of them look, and how could it affect the city of Manchester more broadly, off the football field?
Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani
Sheikh Jassim is a lifelong Manchester United fan, something about which he often reminds the media. While he claims to be an indepenently wealthy businessman, there have been strong links made between him and the political establishment in Qatar.
While a successful bid from Jassim would draw controversy, as The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF)’s takeover of Newcastle United did, there are many reasons for optimism among fans for his bid.
Jassim wants to purchase the whole club and clear its debt, he has committed to investing heavily in the playing staff and seems to be determined to return the club to a position of sporting dominance.
While these are all things which Manchester United fans want to hear, how could his bid affect the wider community?
Well the Sheikh has vowed to redevelop Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground, which presumably would bring lots of job opportunities to the region. What’s more, paralels can be made between him and Sheikh Mansour, owner of Manchester City, and based on the evidence of what he has done in terms of investment and development in the city, the future could well be bright for MCR with Sheikh Jasism at the helm of Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is a British billionnaire who owns engineering firm INEOS. He has also been the owner of French Ligue 1 side Nice since 2019.
His bid is for majority ownership of the club, but not sole ownership, meaning were he to be successful, The Glazers could potentially stay in the frame at Old Trafford, something which would devestate United fans.
He hasn’t been particularly popular at Nice, after employing people to sporting positions with limited knowledge of football, leading to questionable transfers and a somewhat shambolic running of the club as a whole.
His bid also makes no mention of redevelopment of the stadium, the training ground or the wider community.
Sir Jim is a lifelong Man United fan and would appear to have the best interests of the club at heart, but it’s hard to see how his successful takeover would dramatically improve the fortunes of the community surrounding Old Trafford, at least for now.
Thomas Zilliacus
Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus is bidding to buy Manchester United but has also welcomed a joining of forces between himself and the two other major bidders, Sheikh Jassim and Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Zilliacus is a social media mogul with seemingly no ties to the club, but does boast that he wishes to include fans as much as possible in not only decision making, but ownership, suggesting a model in which he purchases 50% of the club and the global fanbase chip in together to buy the other half.
Were he to be successful, we could envisage that this fan control model would see funds invested heavily in playing staff and sporting matters, but there is little reason to believe that fans from across the country and the world will particularly care about redeveloping and investing in the local community.
It has to be pointed out that this his bid is by far the least likely to win.
It is believed that The Glazers will consider all bids in due course and that a takeover could be imminent, but for now the club remains in their control and fans are left in the dark as to when their beloved club might actually change hands.
