Less than 24-hours after Elon Musk trolled the internet by joking that he was going to by Manchester United, another potential buyer for the club has thrown their hat into the ring.
And apparently, this one is “serious” about it this time.
After a recent Bloomberg report suggested that Manchester United‘s current owners, The Glazer family, are willing to sell a minority stake in the club, and after South African-born business tycoon Musk, who is the CEO and owner of a handful of major companies like Tesla and SpaceX – and just so happens to be the richest man in the world, with a net worth of US$242 billion – took to Twitter this week to say that he wanted to get his hands on the club that was his “favourite as a kid”, another fan has come forward to say they’re also interested.
Failsworth-born billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is one of the richest men in Britain with a net worth of $7.18 billion (£5.96 billion), says he is “definitely a potential buyer” if the club is for sale.
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The 69-year-old is not only the chairman and chief executive of chemical company, Ineos, but he also owns French Ligue 1 football team Nice, and Swiss club FC Lausanne-Sport, as well as Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, and an Ineos partnership with the Mercedes F1 team.
Crucially, he’s also a massive Manchester United fan.
🔺 EXCLUSIVE: Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to buy a stake in Manchester United, with a view to taking full control if the Glazers welcome new investment https://t.co/HXl2dIt6YA
A spokesperson for Ineos told The Times that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the company would be interested in purchasing a smaller stake, with a view to eventually buying the club.
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“If the club is for sale, Jim is definitely a potential buyer,” the spokesperson said.
“If something like this was possible, we would be interested in talking with a view to long-term ownership.”
The spokesperson added that the company’s interest is “not about the money that has been spent or not spent”, explaining that Jim is “looking at what can be done now and, knowing how important the club is to the city, it feels like the time is right for a reset.”
According to Bloomberg, preliminary discussions have been held about bringing in a new investor at Manchester United after what has been a rocky relationship between fans and owners since the Glazers’ takeover back in 2005, and also after what has been a pretty painful start to the 2022/23 season for the club and new manager Erik ten Hag, with two defeats putting them at the bottom of the Premier League table.
The clubs has very-prominently been in decline since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013, and there have been multiple protests against the Glazers’ ownership in recent years – including one in May 2021 which caused a match against Liverpool to be postponed, and several over the club’s involvement in the proposed European Super League.
The club’s net debt had also grown 11% to about £496 million by the end of March.
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The Glazers have also been criticised for their handling of player transfers and contracts, as well as for not improving Old Trafford – which is the biggest club ground in the country with a capacity of around 74,000 fans.
Manchester United has declined to speak on rumours and speculation of potential new buyers.
Featured Image – INEOS (via YouTube)
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Incredible misty drone footage shows how Manchester earned its ‘Manctopia’ nickname
Daisy Jackson
Drone footage captured from way above Manchester shows just how quickly the city has grown – and proves that our hometown is well on its way to earning its ‘Manctopia’ nickname.
Cast your mind back just a few years and you’ll remember that Beetham Tower stuck out like a sore thumb, towering many storeys above the next tallest building.
In fact, until just four years ago, the next-tallest building here was City Tower, which was a good 17 storeys shorter than Beetham Tower.
Then along came Renaker with visions for an entirely new skyscraper neighbourhood – Deansgate Square.
The drone footage captured above Manchester. Credit: Instagram @lef_tsotour
This group of skyscrapers now completely dominate the Manchester skyline, with the tallest building a massive 65 storeys tall.
South Tower is not only the tallest building in Greater Manchester, it’s also the 10th tallest in the entire UK, and the biggest outside of London.
It’s all led to Manchester being coined ‘Manctopia’, the name of a BBC documentary that followed property developers Capital & Centric as they redevelop buildings around the region.
One local photographer has managed to capture the unbelievable scale of our new, ultra-modern city skyline, with drone footage soaring among the skyscrapers.
Known on Instagram as @lef_tsotour, they shared a video taken on a misty Manchester morning.
It captures both Deansgate Square, with sun glinting off the many windows of the towers, and the now-dwarfed Beetham Tower.
You can also see the railway lines snaking through the city centre, cars nipping around the ring road, and the comparatively small apartment blocks around Castlefield.
Commenting on the video, one person said: “This is mint.”
Another wrote: “Fricken love this!!!!”
Featured image: @lef_tsotour
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Question Time audience stunned as first-time buyer says mortgage quote DOUBLED
Danny Jones
Thursday night’s Question Time audience could be heard audibly gasping after a fellow crowd member revealed that her mortgage quote had doubled followed the recent mini-budget.
Taping in Manchester on 29 September, the current events and politics programme was discussing property when would-be first-time buyer Rabia revealed that her mortgage offer had jumped from an initial amount of 4.5% interest to a shocking 10.5% in just a matter of days.
As you can see in the incredible clip, both the audience and the panel are taken aback at the revelation.
The gasps from the audience as this woman reveals she’s received a revised mortgage offer of 10.5%. pic.twitter.com/a5Nb1co8al
The Greater Manchester resident said she is desperate to know what the government’s plan for mortgages is as following the latest revision, she says she simply cannot afford to put the money down on her first home.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer weighed in on the social media reaction, quote tweeting the clip from his party’s own account and stating that “the Tories must get back to Parliament and reverse their kamikaze budget” as the current economic mess is being “paid for by working people”.
The government’s economic chaos is already clobbering those like Rabia who're trying to get a mortgage or to re-mortgage.
This crisis was made in Downing Street but it’s being paid for by working people.
The Tories must get back to Parliament and reverse their kamikaze budget. https://t.co/bw8B2TOUgl
To make matters worse, Rabia was given no clarification from her lenders, only that they were pulling her offers. Conservative MP and Minister for Local Government, Faith and Communities, Paul Scully had little information to offer her either, simply stating it is a short-term effect and that the market will stabilise.
Scully was subject to an entirely different reaction from the audience as well after his blind attempts to defend Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng were met with laughter. Conversely, Richard Bacon was met with applause after he labelled the mini-budget “absurd”.
As if the anti-Tory sentiment wasn’t already at a high, the chancellor’s mini-budget – which saw the corporations, bankers and the generally wealthy benefit ahead of the working class – has seen fresh calls for a general election to be held as soon as possible.
Beyond declaring a so-called £2,500 limit on energy bills (which many have warned isn’t a guaranteed cap), there was seemingly very little in the way of policy that
For those still unclear as to what was announced in the divisive mini-budget, here is a quick summary:
Speaking in a speech at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, Starmer said that the government “haven’t just failed to fix the roof, they’ve ripped out the foundations, smashed the windows and now they’ve blown the doors off for good measure.
Emily Sergeant -
18th August 2022 
