It’s officially deadline day for Manchester United’s prospective bidders and with multiple parties looking to take over the massive sporting franchise, it’s going to be an interesting few days ahead.
With current owners, the Glazer Family, valuing the club between at least £6-8 billion and now said to be looking for a full sale of the business as opposed to selling partial shares or welcoming new investors, it’ll simply be case a who puts forward the biggest offer.
The deadline for United‘s bidders is 10pm tonight. Here are the candidates said to be seriously considering a takeover.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Whoever is leading the race to take over the club is anyone’s guess but it’s fairly common knowledge that one of United’s longest-running suitors is British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chairman and co-owner of INEOS — the chemical company who also owns French club OGC Nice.
Ratcliffe is a lifelong Red born in Failsworth who as well as being one of the richest men in Britain also already happens to own a sporting brand in Team Sky cycling, which he bought back in 2019, not mention owning shares in Mercedes F1. If anything, he is clearly a sporting man, at the very least.
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The 70-year-old has enlisted a number of banks including Goldman Sachs to help fund his bid and while many were wary his need for additional financing resembled the leveraged buyout that saw the Glazers take control back in 2005, he is said to have assured he will not load United with any more debt.
Qatar
Ratcliffe’s biggest rival is undoubtedly the Qatari consortium that is said to be heavily interested in buying Manchester United. Given the level of wealth behind those involved, significantly dwarfing the majority of other financial players, their package is widely considered the strongest of United’s bidders.
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Although the amount of money clearly won’t be an issue (try a sovereign wealth fund of £368bn), its source and connection to the state looks to be the biggest sticking point.
It has been stated that Qatar Sports Investments, a.k.a. PSG’s billionaire owners, are not involved in the bid but the financing will have to be fully vetted. Regardless, UEFA are being urged to block the move to prevent further ‘sportswashing’ and the Emir of Qatar gaining unprecedented levels of power in football.
Saudi Arabia
Despite having only recently acquired Newcastle United through the Public Investment Fund (the same sovereign wealth model Qatar are hoping to deploy), it has been reported that a rival bid from elsewhere in the Arabian Gulf could also challenge Qatar’s offer.
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The nation were confirmed to have entered the race by The Telegraph early on Friday, literally hours before the deadline, having previously been rumoured to be in the market for Chelsea before Todd Boehly’s buyout too.
Saudi Arabia obviously share the same oil-based money origins as their Middle-Eastern neighbours and the national government has already said it would back bids from their private sector, but it would still present an odd prospect to see them invest in a direct rival so early into their Newcastle project.
The US — maybe even Elon Musk?
Perhaps the most uncertain prospects are located in the US, with various groups said to have expressed interest in trying to buy the club, though little detail is still known even at this advanced stage.
However, one very wealthy individual (i.e. the richest man in the world) is rumoured to be considering a bid in some capacity: Elon Musk. Yep.
Last but not least, the possibility of investment from China has not been ruled out from the list of Man United’s bidders.
Like the Qatari royals, Chinese investors are rumoured to be putting up an estimated £5bn bid according to The Times, with the possibility of state money also present in this instance.
Once again, though, little is known about the potential investors and whether or not they are part of a large consortium but they cannot be ruled out, especially with China’s massive United fan base.
Once again, the deadline is 10pm this evening (Friday, 17 February) but the full sale will obviously be a much lengthier process, so don’t expect the cogs to start turning right away.
United fans, who would you prefer to have in charge of the club?
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We know many people’s answer is simply ‘anyone but the Glazers’ but, you know, humour us.
Featured Image — Wikimedia Commons/Jason Wong (via Lookout Point)
Sport
Former Man United man Bastian Schweinsteiger sheds light on brutal exile by José Mourinho
Danny Jones
Former footballer and ex-Manchester United man Bastian Schweinsteiger has opened up on his turbulent time at the club, revealing some fairly shocking details surrounding his exile from the first team at the hands of José Mourinho.
The Germany and Bayern Munich legend retired back in 2019, going down as arguably one of the most revered midfielders in Europe, but some of the latter chapters in his career were less idyllic than they should have been after moving to Old Trafford.
Schweinsteiger joined the Red Devils in 2015 as a seasoned pro by Louis van Gaal but ended up enjoying only a very limited amount of playing time before ultimately departing in 2017 under the Mourinho regime in less than affable circumstances, to say the least.
The 39-year-old has never really opened up on what went ‘wrong’ during his time at Man United until now, revealing to Gary Neville that was quite literally banned from going into the dressing room on practically his first day under the Portuguese coach.
Bastain Schweinsteiger reveals he was banned from training with the United first team by José Mourinho
A pretty strange way to welcome a Champions League and World Cup winner with eight Bundesliga titles and a cabinet full of other cups to his name, let’s put it that way.
While it’s still unclear as to why exactly José didn’t want him around the first-team squad, Schweinsteiger says that former football director and then-head of development John Murtough – who recently left the club after 11 years – told him he couldn’t train with the senior players simply “because the coach said so”.
Already considered a veteran of the sport at this point, he goes on to detail how, ever the consummate professional, he proceeded to train with the under-16s instead after being given no alternative, which kicked off months of largely unexplained exile and only making very sparse appearances for the team.
Neville‘s face is understandably aghast at the revelations, going on to admit he was left “stunned” by what he was hearing and labelling Schweinsteiger’s treatment not only “embarrassing” for the club and as a fan but verging on the “illegal”.
He only made four appearances for United while ‘The Special One’ was in charge.The controversy was never made public at the time.Credit: Wikimedia Commons)/Дмитрий Голубович
Citing the only real reason that was given for banishment was that Mourinho claimed he “didn’t see [him] happy here at United”, although he did qualify that this was around the time of his injury when he also spent time recovering in Germany.
José did eventually go on to apologise for his treatment in those early days, admitting that his decision fell into the category of “feeling sorry for what I did” and in turn granted him the move to his final club Chicago Fire where he spent the last days of his playing career.
Were he to have been given a different introduction to the club and eventually integrated into the first-team squad in a less confrontational way, his time at Manchester United could have been very different.
You can watch Bastian Schweinsteiger’s full interview on The Overlap, including what he made of other players that José found ‘problematic’ like Paul Pogba down below. Safe to say it’s quite an eye-opener.
Featured Images — The Overlap (via YouTube)/Дмитрий Голубович
Sport
Rodri takes a swipe at Real Madrid tactics as Manchester City bow out of the Champions League on penalties
Danny Jones
Manchester City star Rodri has taken aim at Real Madrid for their tactics in Wednesday night’s Champions League quarter-final as the Blues bowed out of the competition on penalties.
Rodri, who scored the winning goal in the UCL final to secure the treble for Man City last season, cut an understandably disappointed figure in the post-match interviews as his side ultimately conceded the first of their three trophies in a tense night at the Etihad Stadium.
Speaking to the media in the tunnel, the Spaniard was asked if he saw the game as simply being a case of two elite teams cancelling each other out and only being separated by small margins, to which he simply replied: “To be honest, today I saw only one team”.
The 27-year-old went on to note that Madrid’s gameplan was obviously to defend and “to [make us] suffer” but that they always knew how tough Carlo Ancelotti’s team would be to come up against in such a crucial tie like this.
"To be honest, today I saw only one team"
"In my opinion we should go through"
Rodri on Real Madrid's tactics, after they beat Manchester City on penalties in the Champions League quarter-finals.#ManCity#MCFC#UCL
Rodri criticises Madrid as he suggests only one team came to play.
Nevertheless, Rodri reiterated that he believes City “deserved to go through” based on their performance across the two games and given how much they tried to play during the home leg.
While Madrid were always going to try and frustrate their opposition and trying and stop Guardiola‘s squad from playing the more free-flowing, expansive game that so often suits them, they did have plenty of moments where the game looked more open and like a counter could come off at either end.
Ultimately, though, an early goal for the visitors from Rodrygo was enough to give Madrid breathing room for the majority of the game and even after Kevin De Bruyne’s explosive equaliser – which saw the stadium erupt as it looked like they might go on to win it – they still managed to eke out extra time.
As for Pep himself, he was predictably cautious of getting drawn into any big exclamations and made sure to hold back, simply reiterating Rodri’s sentiment that the performance was “outstanding” and that given stats like 32 shots attempted (a third of those on target), he could not question their commitment.
"We did absolutely everything… but they are in the semifinals and we are not."@AnitaNnekaJones chats with Man City manager Pep Guardiola after the defending champs fall to Real Madrid 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/MtFjD3zaeQ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) April 18, 2024
While Rodri had a sly dig at Madrid, Pep chose to focus only on his players instead.
The admittedly ridiculous-sounding ‘Treble-Treble’ might now be off the table but with two trophies still left to defend and another potential record break on the cards if they manage to win a fourth Premier League in a row, there’s still more than enough glory to play for.
City’s next big fixture is the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea this Saturday as rivals Manchester United take on Coventry City in the other draw on Sunday.
Safe to say it’s looking very much like we could get back-to-back Manchester derby FA Cup finals.
As for the title race, the Blues have a slim two-point cushion at the top of the table but with Arsenal and Liverpool slipping up last weekend, it could prove to be the key slip-up they needed to now set the tone and finish the season strong as they often do. It’s going to be a blockbuster few weeks.
Danny Jones -
17th February 2023 
