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

00:00 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.

08:26 While you're here, please don't forget to subscribe to 442 while on YouTube.

08:29 I know I always say this, but it is the one metric that does really, really help us out.

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

08:36 we get nice rounds of applause and handshakes off the people who make the decisions.

08:39 So I would be very grateful if you could do that.

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.

08:49 Don't forget those.

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.

09:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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