Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been told that Manchester United is “not for sale” following yet more talk of a prospective buyout.
The 69-year-old from Failsworth is one of the richest men in the UK and his name has regularly been floated around as one of the names who could potentially buy the Premier League club and global sporting brand.
The CEO of INEOS – a multinational chemicals company which replaced Team Sky cycling when he bought the franchise – went on to say: “I met Joel and Avram, and they are the nicest people.”
“They are proper gentlemen, and they don’t want to sell United. It is owned by the six children of the father and they don’t want to sell.”
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Quotes like this will surely frustrate United fans who have not only long hoped for a sale to materialise but also consider the Glazers the root of their team’s failings over the past decade.
🚨🔰 Here we go True Reds, PROOF THAT SIR JIM RATCLIFFE WANTS TO PURCHASE @ManUtd! BUT he says the Glazers do not want to sell the club! That’s why we have to Defund the Glazers, Boycott all MUFC’s sponsors & Protest to get the #GlazersOut in order to get #SirJimRatcliffeln 1/2 pic.twitter.com/6HnlPRmBbw
Ratcliffe was recently pictured with members of The 1958 supporters’ group who still believe him to be the frontrunner in the race to save the club from the so-called ‘Glazernomics‘ that have seen them deeper into debt and further down the table.
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One of the most vilified footballing administrations anywhere in the world, the Glazer family have been in charge at Man United since 2005 and fans have been protesting their ownership ever since.
The ‘Glazers Out‘ protests hit a fever pitch over the past year or so, with massive demonstrations before several games and fans even breaking onto the pitch back in May 2021.
Ratcliffe stated his intentions rather clearly to the outlet: “If it had been for sale in the summer, yes we would probably have had a go following on from the Chelsea thing.”
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The businessman also made a late bid to buy the west London club before it was acquired by American Todd Boehly, whose designs on the league as a whole have led to much debate.
The likes of United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and more are now at least partially owned by American investors and many are speculating as to the wider impact growing US investment could lead to.
Despite being in the conversation for several years, 2022 has been the closest he has ever come to a real bid after he was linked with the consortium headed up by Michael Knighton, a former United director whose infamous £20 million bid to buy the club back in 1989 went up in flames due to financing.
Knighton, who began preparing an approach back in August, admitted that he needed the funding of parties like Ratcliffe to make a genuine proposal possible. Even with his backing, it looks as though the Glazers aren’t even close to entertaining a deal.
Ranked 27th on the Sunday Times Rich List, the entrepreneur is one of the few candidates with the kind of money capable of purchasing the mega club from its American owners, but it looks like Reds will have to keep waiting for a breakthrough.
Featured Image — Wikimedia Commons
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
13th October 2022 
