Why The Manchester United Takeover Isn’t What It Seems

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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?

Transcript

00:00So, first off, Sir Jim Radcliffe, born in Falesworth, Greater Manchester, is a British

00:05billionaire, engineer and chairman of chemical giants Ineos.

00:08He's reported to be the second richest man in the UK and his net worth, at last estimate,

00:14is of almost £30 billion.

00:16He owns FC Luzon Sport, currently third bottom of the Swiss League, having been relegated

00:21in 2022, and OGC Nice, who are currently second in Ligue 1 and got to the quarterfinals of

00:27last year's Europa Conference League.

00:29He also put something in the region of £4.2 billion up to try and buy Chelsea, when Abramovich

00:34was hurriedly shredding all its documents, but lost out to Todd Bowley.

00:38The proposed new structure would see Radcliffe take control of sporting decisions immediately.

00:44Both him and other representatives from Ineos would take seats on the board, meaning that

00:49in matters relating to the actual football, they would have enough influence within the

00:53company to basically do as they please.

00:56They wouldn't need approval for transfers, sales, investments, firing and appointing

01:00managers, scouting, recruitment, development, all the really good stuff from any of the

01:06Glazers.

01:07Reports are that he has really ambitious plans for this part of the operation, and would

01:11look to entirely restructure the club with his own hand-picked appointments.

01:16Julian Ward and Michael Edwards, two of the men responsible for Liverpool's resurgence

01:20in recent years, have been mentioned.

01:22Paul Mitchell, the man behind the transfer golden periods of Southampton under Pochettino,

01:27Tottenham also under Pochettino, and more recently RB Leipzig, is said to be their top

01:32target.

01:33Elsewhere in the various other roles that all feed into the club's footballing operation,

01:37there are rumours of significant outgoings.

01:40United chief executive Richard Arnold being chief amongst them, with every position likely

01:44to see some form of upheaval if Radcliffe takes control.

01:48But here's the thing, Radcliffe might really love his football, I don't think anybody's

01:52doubting that, but he's yet to prove he's actually any good at it.

01:57In the six years before Radcliffe bought Nice for 100 million euros, the club finished in

02:02the top four of Ligue 1 three times.

02:04In the 2016-2017 season, they were top of the table at Christmas, lost just four games

02:10all season, and very nearly upset PSG to the title.

02:14But since his acquisition in 2019, it's been a continuing period of upheaval, with no success

02:19to show for it.

02:20Big money Premier League players like Kasper Schmeichel, Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley and

02:25Nicolas Pepe have all come and gone without any real impact, and there was, ahead of this

02:29season, a growing sense of detachment between the club and its fans.

02:34However, at the time of recording, they are second in the table and the only undefeated

02:39side in Ligue 1, so it may be starting to finally turn around.

02:43There is, of course, the small complication that UEFA does not allow two clubs owned by

02:47the same people to play in the same competition, but that's obviously only a problem if he

02:52gets control of Manchester United.

02:54So is he going to get control of Manchester United?

02:58Well, when Radcliffe initially approached the club, he was looking to buy 51% of it,

03:04and he wanted to do so entirely through the stake that the Glazers owned.

03:08However, this ultimately fell through because, according to The Athletic, while the non-Glazer

03:13members of the board only control 10% of the voting rights, they threatened legal action

03:18against the sale because, with Radcliffe not offering to buy any of their shares, they

03:22stood to lose out on a significant financial windfall.

03:25This new bid is for a mere 25% of the company, and has, reportedly, been accepted.

03:31However, it now has to be approved by the club's board of directors, 12 people who,

03:36between them, control 100% of the company.

03:39Now despite the whole complexities of the structuring, meaning that the Glazers have

03:4390% of the voting power, that counts for nothing at this level, and a majority decision between

03:49these 12 individuals must now be reached.

03:52So, in other words, yes, exactly, EXACTLY like that final, gruelling, excruciating scene

03:59from Succession.

04:00So who are these 12 people?

04:02Well, you've got six Glazers in there, Avram and Joel operate as co-chairmen of the club

04:08and oversee the majority of its business.

04:10Kevin Glazer, Darcy Glazer, Edward Glazer and Brian Glazer are also on the board, but

04:14don't really bother themselves with the club, focusing instead on the other concerns within

04:18their father's business empire.

04:20Brian Glazer runs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, I promise you, are a real American football

04:25team and not a name I've just made up now because it sounds really American.

04:29Kevin Glazer runs Glazer Properties, a primarily American-based real estate firm that owns

04:34some of the ugliest buildings you've ever seen in your life.

04:37Edward Glazer is the chair of U.S. Property Trust and U.S. Auto Trust, which is exactly

04:42as boring as it sounds.

04:44And Darcy Glazer spends her time running the Glazer Family Foundation, which is a charitable

04:48non-profit dedicated to, and I quote, supporting programs designed to serve disadvantaged youth

04:54and families.

04:55Which is really great, but when you try and Google a single one of those programs, nothing

05:00really comes up.

05:01Oh well.

05:02Outside of the family, there are three positions for senior members of the club staff.

05:06The aforementioned Chief Executive Richard Arnold, Awkward, CFO Cliff Batty, and the

05:11club's long-standing legal counsel, Patrick Stewart.

05:14Annoyingly, if you Google Patrick Stewart Man United, you get this clip from some movie

05:18in the 90s, and just, apologies, but I'm not able to offer any decent context to that

05:24at this time.

05:25But I will look it up.

05:26Anyway, there's also three individuals who, between them, represent the interests of the

05:30numerable minority shareholders who all own a tiny little chunk of the club.

05:35And they are a weird group.

05:37You've got John Hooks, who's been at the very top of the tree for Ralph Lauren and

05:41Giorgio Armani, Manu Swani, who was the Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council,

05:46and Robert Liotto, who works for banking giants Rothschild.

05:49If you've never heard of them, they're a bank you need £100,000 just to open an

05:55account with.

05:56Anyway, Radcliffe's Bid needs the approval of at least seven of these individuals.

06:00In the event of a tie, the casting votes would fall to both Joel and Avram, who are

06:05believed to want to push this through, so it's almost certainly going to happen.

06:10But, and this is the big question, is that a good thing?

06:13Well, that depends on which side of the argument you fall on as a Man United fan.

06:18While Radcliffe might personally represent quite a palatable owner, especially compared

06:22to the Qatari investment, the idea of the Glazers remaining involved in such a significant

06:27capacity makes it a complete non-starter for big sections of the support.

06:32Full sale only banners have been a frequent sight in Manchester United away ends both

06:37in last season and in this.

06:39However, to others, the problem isn't necessarily the Glazers themselves, it's that, how can

06:45I put this, they're idiots.

06:48A collection of incredibly average business people who've found themselves as one of

06:52the most powerful families in the world purely by virtue of just inheriting that mantle from

06:57their father.

06:58They'd probably be fine if they had the first idea what they were doing, or could even admit

07:04that they didn't, and Radcliffe effectively buying that responsibility from them could

07:08actually be a really good solution?

07:11Plus, and it's all unconfirmed at this stage, but reportedly one of the reasons why Radcliffe

07:16is prepared to take such a small stake in the company now is because it includes some

07:21unwritten agreements that he will continue to take further and further control as time

07:26goes on.

07:27So it certainly isn't a full sale now, but it might end up being one.

07:30But that's the thing, like every single other element of this takeover, nobody's gonna know

07:36until it just happens.

07:38Will it go through?

07:39What sort of power will he wield?

07:41Will he actually be any good at it?

07:43Is Ten Hag's job safe?

07:45These questions will literally only get answered one at a time, and the very first one comes

07:50this week with that board meeting.

07:53So yes, Manchester United fans, it looks like all your prayers are finally going to be answered,

07:58provided that your prayers were exclusively limited to, dear God, I hope that the Glazers

08:04sell a minority stake in Manchester United.

08:06I have absolutely no idea what to make of this, so if you are a Manchester United fan,

08:10please do let us know in the comments whether this is what you want.

08:13Is this a good thing?

08:15Do you only want a full sale?

08:16Is this fine if it becomes a full sale, but it's bad if it doesn't?

08:19Do you like the look of Radcliffe?

08:20Do you think he's a good person for the club?

08:22Just anything, anything and everything, please, in the comments below.

08:25While you're here, please don't forget to subscribe to 442 while on YouTube.

08:28I know I always say this, but it is the one metric that does really, really help us out.

08:32Just click that little button, and the more people do that, the better it looks, and then

08:35we get nice rounds of applause and handshakes off the people who make the decisions.

08:38So I would be very grateful if you could do that.

08:40And of course, if you fancy it, you can grab me on all the social medias,

08:43at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y, the 442 socials, they're in the corner of the video.

08:48Don't forget those.

08:49The brand new issue of the mag is like literally two days away.

08:52Orange Poster Colour on the colour.

08:53That's very exciting.

08:55And until next time, I'm just going to shut up now.

08:57I've been Adam Cleary.

08:58That's the Man United situation, and I'll see you soon.

09:01Bye.

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