Why The Manchester United Takeover Isn’t What It Seems
The Manchester United takeover saga with INEOS owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe's 25%. Glazers retaining their majority stake, how exactly would the new structure work, and is this a good thing for Manchester United?
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00:00 So, first off, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, born in Falesworth, Greater Manchester, is a British
00:06 billionaire, engineer and chairman of chemical giant Ineos.
00:10 He's reported to be the second richest man in the UK and his net worth, at last estimate,
00:15 is of almost £30 billion.
00:17 He owns FC Luzon Sport, currently third bottom of the Swiss league, having been relegated
00:22 in 2022, and OGC Nice, who are currently second in Ligue 1 and got to the quarterfinals of
00:28 last year's Europa Conference League.
00:30 He also put something in the region of £4.2 billion up to try and buy Chelsea, when Abramovich
00:35 was hurriedly shredding all its documents, but lost out to Todd Bowley.
00:39 The proposed new structure would see Ratcliffe take control of sporting decisions immediately.
00:45 Both him and other representatives from Ineos would take seats on the board, meaning that
00:49 in matters relating to the actual football, they would have enough influence within the
00:54 company to basically do as they please.
00:57 They wouldn't need approval for transfers, sales, investments, firing and appointing
01:01 managers, scouting, recruitment, development, all the really good stuff from any of the
01:07 glazers.
01:08 Reports are that he has really ambitious plans for this part of the operation, and would
01:12 look to entirely restructure the club with his own hand-picked appointments.
01:16 Julian Ward and Michael Edwards, two of the men responsible for Liverpool's resurgence
01:21 in recent years, have been mentioned.
01:23 Paul Mitchell, the man behind the transfer golden periods of Southampton under Pochettino,
01:28 Tottenham also under Pochettino, and more recently RB Leipzig, is said to be their top
01:33 target.
01:34 Elsewhere in the various other roles that all feed into the club's footballing operation,
01:38 there are rumours of significant outgoings.
01:40 Unite the chief executive Richard Arnold being chief amongst them, with every position likely
01:45 to see some form of upheaval if Ratcliffe takes control.
01:49 But here's the thing, Ratcliffe might really love his football, but he's yet to prove
01:55 he's actually any good at it.
01:58 In the six years before Ratcliffe bought Nice for 100 million euros, the club finished in
02:03 the top four of Ligue 1 three times.
02:05 In the 2016/17 season, they were top of the table at Christmas, lost just four games all
02:11 season and very nearly upset PSG to the title.
02:14 But since his acquisition in 2019, it's been a continuing period of upheaval with
02:19 no success to show for it.
02:21 Big money Premier League players like Kasper Schmeichel, Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley and
02:25 Nicolas Pepe have all come and gone without any real impact, and there was, ahead of this
02:30 season, a growing sense of detachment between the club and its fans.
02:35 However, at the time of recording, they are second in the table and the only undefeated
02:39 side in Ligue 1, so it may be starting to finally turn around.
02:43 There is of course the small complication that UEFA does not allow two clubs owned by
02:48 the same people to play in the same competition, but that's obviously only a problem if he
02:53 gets control of Manchester United.
02:55 So is he gonna get control of Manchester United?
02:59 Well, when Ratcliffe initially approached the club, he was looking to buy 51% of it,
03:05 and he wanted to do so entirely through the stake that the Glazers owned.
03:09 However, this ultimately fell through because, according to The Athletic, while the non-Glazer
03:13 members of the board only control 10% of the voting rights, they threatened legal action
03:18 against the sale because, with Ratcliffe not offering to buy any of their shares, they
03:23 stood to lose out on a significant financial windfall.
03:26 This new bid is for a mere 25% of the company, and has reportedly been accepted.
03:32 However, it now has to be approved by the club's board of directors, 12 people who
03:37 between them control 100% of the company.
03:40 Now despite the whole complexities of the structuring, meaning that the Glazers have
03:43 90% of the voting power, that counts for nothing at this level, and a majority decision between
03:49 these 12 individuals must now be reached.
03:52 Yeah, so in other words, yes, exactly, exactly like that final, gruelling, excruciating scene
04:00 from Succession.
04:01 So who are these 12 people?
04:03 Well, you've got six Glazers in there.
04:06 Avram and Joel operate as co-chairmen of the club and oversee the majority of its business.
04:10 Kevin Glazer, Darcy Glazer, Edward Glazer and Brian Glazer are also on the board, but
04:15 don't really bother themselves with the club, focusing instead on the other concerns within
04:19 their father's business empire.
04:21 Brian Glazer runs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, I promise you, are a real American football
04:26 team and not a name I've just made up now because it sounds really American.
04:29 Kevin Glazer runs Glazer Properties, a primarily American-based real estate firm that owns
04:35 some of the ugliest buildings you've ever seen in your life.
04:37 Edward Glazer is the chair of US Property Trust and US Auto Trust, which is exactly
04:43 as boring as it sounds.
04:45 And Darcy Glazer spends her time running the Glazer Family Foundation, which is a charitable
04:49 non-profit dedicated to, and I quote, "supporting programs designed to serve disadvantaged youth
04:55 and families."
04:56 Which is really great, but when you try and Google a single one of those programs, nothing
05:01 really comes up.
05:02 Oh well.
05:03 Outside of the family, there are three positions for senior members of the club staff.
05:07 The aforementioned Chief Executive Richard Arnold, awkward CFO Cliff Batty, and the club's
05:12 long-standing legal counsel, Patrick Stewart.
05:15 Annoyingly, if you Google Patrick Stewart Man United, you get this clip from some movie
05:19 in the 90s, and just apologies, but I'm not able to offer any decent context to that at
05:25 this time.
05:26 But I will look it up.
05:27 Anyway, there's also three individuals who, between them, represent the interests of the
05:30 innumerable minority shareholders who all own a tiny little chunk of the club.
05:36 And they are a weird group.
05:38 You've got John Hooks, who's been at the very top of the tree for Ralph Lauren and
05:41 Giorgio Armani, Manu Swani, who was the Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council,
05:47 and Robert Liotto, who works for banking giants Rothschild.
05:50 If you've never heard of them, they're a bank you need £100,000 just to open an account
05:56 with.
05:57 And this bid needs the approval of at least seven of these individuals.
06:01 In the event of a tie, the casting votes would fall to both Joel and Avram, who are believed
06:06 to want to push this through, so it's almost certainly going to happen.
06:11 But, and this is the big question, is that a good thing?
06:14 Well, that depends on which side of the argument you fall on as a Man United fan.
06:19 While Ratcliffe might personally represent quite a palatable owner, especially compared
06:23 to the Qatari investment, the idea of the Glazers remaining involved in such a significant
06:28 capacity makes it a complete non-starter for big sections of the support.
06:33 Full sale only banners have been a frequent sight in Manchester United away ends both
06:38 in last season and in this.
06:40 However, to others, the problem isn't necessarily the Glazers themselves.
06:45 It's that, how can I put this, they're idiots.
06:49 A collection of incredibly average business people who've found themselves as one of the
06:53 most powerful families in the world purely by virtue of just inheriting that mantle from
06:58 their father.
06:59 They'd probably be fine if they had the first idea what they were doing, or could even admit
07:04 that they didn't, and Ratcliffe effectively buying that responsibility from them could
07:09 actually be a really good solution?
07:12 Plus, and it's all unconfirmed at this stage, but reportedly one of the reasons why Ratcliffe
07:16 is prepared to take such a small stake in the company now is because it includes some
07:22 unwritten agreements that he will continue to take further and further control as time
07:27 goes on.
07:28 So it certainly isn't a full sale now, but it might end up being one.
07:31 We'll have to think, like every single other element of this takeover, nobody's gonna know
07:37 until it just happens.
07:39 Will it go through?
07:40 What sort of power will he wield?
07:42 Will he actually be any good at it?
07:44 Is Ten Hag's job safe?
07:45 These questions will literally only get answered one at a time, and the very first one comes
07:51 this week with that board meeting.
07:54 So yes, Manchester United fans, it looks like all your prayers are finally going to be answered,
07:59 provided that your prayers were exclusively limited to "Dear God, I hope that the Glazers
08:04 sell a minority stake in Manchester United."
08:07 I have absolutely no idea what to make of this, so if you are a Manchester United fan,
08:11 please do let us know in the comments whether this is what you want.
08:14 Is this a good thing?
08:15 Do you only want a full sale?
08:17 Is this fine if it becomes a full sale, but it's bad if it doesn't?
08:20 Do you like the look of Ratcliffe?
08:21 Do you think he's a good person for the club?
08:23 Just anything, anything and everything, please, in the comments below.
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08:36 we get nice rounds of applause and handshakes off the people who make the decisions.
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08:41 And of course, if you fancy it, you can grab me on all the social medias, @adamclearycleary.
08:45 The 442 socials, they're in the corner of the video.
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08:50 The brand new issue of the mag is literally two days away.
08:53 Ange Postacoglou on the colour.
08:54 That's very exciting.
08:55 And until next time, I'm just going to shut up now.
08:58 I've been Adam Cleary.
08:59 That's the Man United situation, and I'll see you soon.
09:02 Bye.
09:03 Bye.
09:05 Bye.
09:06 Bye.
09:07 Bye.
09:08 Bye.
09:09 Bye.
09:10 Bye.
09:11 Bye.
09:12 Bye.
09:13 Bye.
09:14 Bye.
09:15 Bye.
09:16 Bye.
09:17 Bye.
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