00:00 In November of last year, Manchester United owners the Glazer family announced they were
00:07 considering selling the club as part of "exploring strategic alternatives".
00:12 Given the group's almost unanimous unpopularity with the club's fanbase, the news was greeted…
00:17 let's say warmly.
00:18 However, while nobody expected a speedy conclusion to the sale of one of football's biggest
00:22 and therefore most expensive clubs, almost nine months on from that the Glazers remain
00:27 in charge.
00:28 Despite plenty of claims and counterclaims, no deal has been agreed and Manchester United
00:32 enter the new season under an enormous cloud of uncertainty.
00:36 This is why the Manchester United takeover still hasn't happened.
00:40 Not to spoil the end of this video for you, but if you've seen Succession, then well,
00:44 you're halfway there.
00:51 With each passing week comes another claim that a breakthrough is on the horizon for
00:54 this deal.
00:55 And with each passing week, fans are left frustrated at the lack of anything of the
00:59 sort.
01:00 Anyway, right now on the table are two competing bids.
01:03 The first is led by this man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
01:06 Born and failed with Greater Manchester, Ratcliffe is a British billionaire, engineer and chairman
01:11 of chemical giants INEOS, reported to be the second richest man in the UK.
01:15 His net worth, at last estimate, is of almost ÂŁ30 billion.
01:19 As a person, he's a figure that appeals strongly to the majority of Manchester United
01:23 fans, but his bid includes an option for two of the Glazers to remain at Old Trafford.
01:28 Avram and Joel Glazer could then be poised to stay on as minority stakeholders if this
01:32 bid is accepted, which would see them continue to invest in the club without the power to
01:37 make key decisions.
01:38 Not a concept that's proving universally popular, but possibly a necessity given the
01:42 way the deal is being financed.
01:44 On the other side of this issue is Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al-Sani, who has been leading
01:49 a Qatari consortium throughout the entire takeover process and wants to purchase a 100%
01:54 stake in Manchester United and all its assets.
01:58 Entirely funded by the Sheikh's 9-2 Foundation, this sale would allegedly leave the club debt-free
02:03 and allow them to "look to invest in the football teams, the training centre, the stadium
02:08 and the wider infrastructure, the fan experience and the communities the club supports."
02:12 This would bring a complete end to the near 20 years of Glazer ownership, dating back
02:16 to their own takeover in 2005, and it would also allegedly wipe the club's debts estimated
02:21 to be around the ÂŁ490 million mark.
02:24 The idea here that Manchester United would cease to be a work in progress almost overnight
02:29 and could then immediately start competing again with the biggest teams in Europe.
02:33 Fans understandably are divided.
02:35 For some, after years of deriding rivals Man City over their state-sponsored ownership
02:40 model, the idea of becoming the plaything of an oil state themselves leaves a bitter
02:44 taste.
02:45 At the same time, there's a reality over what it now takes to compete at the very top
02:49 level, and if that's the only way they can fully remove the Glazers, then so be it.
02:53 And while Ratcliffe might personally represent a far more palatable owner, there are question
02:58 marks over how his deal would be financed and what spending power it would actually
03:01 give the club.
03:02 That, combined with the idea of the Glazers remaining involved in some capacity, makes
03:06 it a complete non-starter for sections of the support.
03:10 Full sale only banners spotted towards the end of last season.
03:13 And that's all without even getting into the accusations that there's involvement
03:17 in the Qatari bid from PSG's owners, or that it might contain a level of state involvement
03:21 that would ultimately see the Premier League forced to reject it.
03:24 But this whole issue of the preferred bidder, be that between the fans or the board, is
03:28 only able to rumble on though because of a lack of any substantial development.
03:33 So what's the hold-up?
03:35 Well and this won't surprise Manchester United fans, the problem is the Glazers.
03:41 The breakdown of their ownership means that while Avram and Joel work as co-chairmen and
03:45 oversee the majority of the club's business, Kevin Glazer, Darcy Glazer, Edward Glazer
03:50 and Brian Glazer all retain between 10 and 20% of the voting power, and ultimately a
03:55 consensus is needed between them for any decision on this to be reached.
04:00 Reports behind the scenes have always indicated that Joel, who retains the largest stake at
04:04 nearly 20%, is determined to remain in charge with a new financial backer.
04:08 Avram, his brother, is willing to stay on in a similar capacity but is also open to
04:12 the idea of a full sale.
04:14 Between them though, they lack the ability to buy out their other four siblings and simply
04:19 make the decision themselves, and all of those are believed to only want to sell their remaining
04:23 shares if it enables them to get out completely.
04:26 Not to oversimplify this, but if you've ever tried to resolve a major issue between
04:31 six blood relatives and siblings at that, it's a wonder it's likely to be resolved
04:36 at all.
04:37 It's worth also keeping in mind that all six of these people are billionaire business
04:41 men and women, because they were born into being billionaire business men and women,
04:47 and not necessarily because any of them are any good at being billionaire business men
04:51 and women.
04:57 Even the wording of the proposed sale back in November was designed to leave room for
05:01 interpretation.
05:02 Exploring strategic alternatives certainly invites bids for the club, but it doesn't
05:07 necessarily commit you to actually selling it.
05:15 They had hoped, it's reported that they'd currently be considering a wealth of credible
05:19 offers, and thus able to negotiate a number of bidders into buying only the shares from
05:24 certain family members, leaving others to remain in place.
05:27 In a competitive field, there was confidence that someone would bite at that offer, but
05:31 with just the Ratcliffe and Qatari options available, neither side is willing to acquiesce
05:36 to this.
05:37 Thus, the last few months have seen multiple rounds of bidding between the two groups to
05:40 try and extract the highest possible price point for the club.
05:44 That's currently estimated to be approaching the ÂŁ5 billion mark, and over the last few
05:48 weeks both groups have believed, and indeed briefed the press, that they were edging ahead
05:53 of the other.
05:54 But likewise, for all the presumptive, unverified and ultimately denied reports that a deal
05:58 with one party or the other is imminent, there's been an equal amount of column inches dedicated
06:02 to the question, "Do the Glazers even want to sell?"
06:06 The Times even going so far as to report that both bidders fully expected neither side to
06:11 have an offer accepted, and were both prepared to walk away, were certain deadlines not met.
06:22 So if you've read that the Glazers want to sell Man United, then yeah, that's true.
06:27 They do.
06:28 If you've also read that the Glazers actually don't want to sell Man United, then yeah,
06:32 that's true as well.
06:34 It's just that the Glazers, as a concept, represents the competing interests of six
06:38 conflicting individuals, all of which are changing with every passing week.
06:43 The bottom line here then, and it's one that becomes increasingly ridiculous as we
06:47 edge closer and closer to both a Premier League and Champions League campaign that Manchester
06:52 United are currently grossly underprepared for, is that there still hasn't been a resolution
06:57 to this sale because, as a group, the Glazers can't decide how they want to resolve it.
07:02 (upbeat music)
07:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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