Manchester United news live: Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim granted extension to takeover bids

2005: The Glazer family with Manchester United, £790m

The Glazer family first acquired a minor stake in Manchester United in 2003, and slowly bought out other shareholders over the next two years to complete a full takeover in 2005. Patriarch Malcolm Glazer, who also led the NFL’s franchise purchase of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, died in 2014 He left control of the club in the hands of his six sons.

Sons Joel and Avram have been heavily involved and have suffered a lot of criticism, with Old Trafford needing a revamp and Manchester United’s on-pitch fortunes suffering a downturn following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. The Glazer family now appears to be on the verge of being sold.

2008 onwards: Stan Kroenke for Arsenal, £731m

American billionaire Stan Kroenke has been involved with Arsenal since 2008, spending in excess of £700m to control and maintain the club. The septuagenarian is also a team owner in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLS.

2021: Newcastle’s Public Investment Fund, £300m

A consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund completed its takeover of Newcastle in October 2021. The deal was shelved after initial resistance from the Premier League amid heavy criticism from human rights groups and reports of impact on the league from Qatari television partner beIN. sport, but was eventually completed after a lengthy 18-month process.

Increased investment has allowed Eddie Howe’s team to establish themselves as a top four contender this season.

2010: Fenway Sports Group for Liverpool FC, £300m

Fenway Sports Group (FSG), already owners of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, completed the purchase of Liverpool in October 2010. Led by billionaire John W. Henry, the sports investment group was founded in 2001 and their investment helped Jurgen Klopp assemble Liverpool’s first title-winning team. English Premier League.

With Manchester United poised to buy at a potential world record price for a sports team, we look back at the most expensive previous Premier League acquisitions in history, starting with their loud neighbours.

2008: Sheikh Mansour for Manchester City, 210 million pounds sterling

It was the deal that precipitated the establishment of Manchester City as one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League, ushering in an era of record transfer deals and massive and sustained success. Sheikh Mansour, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, completed his controversial tenure in September 2008 through United Abu Dhabi Group, the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi royal family.

There was a late twist in last night’s Manchester United takeover saga! The Independent He now realizes that neither of Manchester United’s main bids, led by Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, had submitted their improved bids for the club by Wednesday’s deadline.

Both parties had until 9pm to submit their bids, but instead asked for an extension of the deadline. It is understood both groups will make their second, improved bids on Thursday, with bids expected to be in excess of £5bn at a crucial point in the takeover process.

Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim’s INEOS group were expected to submit their bids before the deadline, but in a dramatic development that surprised even those close to the process, it emerged that Raine’s group had not received a bid. However, an extension to this process has been granted.

Although neither Sheikh Jassim nor Sir Jim Ratcliffe are believed to have exceeded £5bn with initial bids, both are expected to come close to the mark a second time around – having been granted an extension to their initial deadline of 9pm yesterday.

However, the two bids were for different ownership stakes and brought different options for Manchester United as a football club.

Sheikh Jassim wants to complete a full takeover of United, which means he will buy the Glazer family 69 percent and then buy the remaining 31 percent, which is made up of smaller investors. This may take some time as he will have to contact and negotiate with each investor to buy their shares.

The Qatari banker also made several pledges to invest in specific areas of the club – such as refurbishing the stadium – leaving United deeply in debt after the cash purchase.

Ratcliffe’s offer is only for Glazer’s 69 percent stake and a majority shareholder. At this point, he does not offer to buy out the rest of the shareholders.

He will have to borrow money to fund any takeover and his company INEOS has yet to meet the club’s £656m debt.

Those close to his bid say the club will not be charged any new debts but it remains to be seen if Ratcliffe will pay off the debt over time.

The Glazer family is considering selling the Old Trafford giants after 18 years of contentious ownership.

The Americans have invited interested parties to submit plans to move the club forward, which could mean either an outright takeover or a major investment.

So far two of the bidders, Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Qatari businessman Sheikh Jassim, have announced plans to take full control of the club but there may be another interest.

Scholes has no preference for the former United midfielder over who takes over but is just hoping it happens for the sake of harmony.

Football financier Kieran Maguire says the suggestion that the Glazers would receive more than £5bn for the Red Devils is far fetched.

In a similar comparison, Todd Bohle’s consortium bought Chelsea for £4bn, and with Manchester United a historically richer and more successful team, not to mention more commercially viable, the Glazer’s valuation does not seem overstated.

“Manchester United is a much bigger football club than Chelsea,” Maguire told CNN. “It has more ground. It has a bigger fan base. It’s a more recognizable brand.”

“It’s a bit like putting your house up for sale and you give a rough guide price. The Glazers are looking for $7.2 to $9.6 billion. It’s probably not worth it… It comes down to how much each party is willing to compromise or pay in terms of additional financial commitments.”

Qatar’s takeover of Manchester United will be nothing less than a farce for English football, Miguel Delaney writes.

This is a huge moment for the sport. The concern is twofold, both having a ripple effect on the other to form a potentially irreversible effect on the game. At its moral core, there is the biggest club in English football designed to be the biggest problem in football at the moment. United will be used politically to mitigate one of the most criticized human rights records on earth, centered around the system of labor described as modern slavery, and thus make this noble institution complicit.

United is no longer about Salford, Manchester and a community of fans delighted in a glorious history of adventure and challenge. It will be about Qatar and its foreign policy and the kind of issues that football should not be concerned about. “Sportswashing” is a very poor description of what’s really going on here, especially when you consider the other issue.

The purchase of United via a government bid means that the three main nations driving the Gulf blockade finally all own major clubs in England, including the biggest of all. What would he say to what is the Premier League? The most watched league in the world will become the most morally compromised, and to much greater degrees. Competition will turn into a political arena. Manchester will turn into a political arena. Nobody should be under any illusions about that.

Read Miguel’s full article on the implications of the Qatar takeover of Manchester United: