Glazers decide as Ratcliffe outbids Sheikh Jassim before the deadline

The bids for Manchester United have been received, and the club’s Glazer owners are about to make a critical choice that will affect the club – and English football – for years to come.

The third and last deadline for bids was Friday night, with a consortium led by Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani taking on a bid from INEOS, which is run by Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Several US investment firms, including Elliott Management, the Carlyle Group, and Ares Management, are proposing a minority investment in the club, which would keep the Glazers in charge.

Despite their intentions to listen to proposals – both majority and minority investments – coming over five months ago, the Glazer family constantly pushed back their deadline to finalize a sale of the club with the ownership position at Old Trafford still unknown.

This week, it was revealed that Ratcliffe had submitted a new proposal that would allow Avram and Joel Glazer to keep a small stake in the club. As the differences between the two bids became clearer, Sheikh Jassim remained committed to acquiring 100% ownership of the club rather than a minority stake.

Ratcliffe’s stance, on the other hand, is likely to jeopardize his reputation among United supporters. The Glazers are immensely unpopular among supporters after their leveraged takeover in 2005 left the club with significant debts, while the Red Devils had gone a decade without winning the Premier League title. United supporters want the Glazers to sell the entire club.

The Qatar bid is now the only alternative for the Glazers to exit the club. Their bid is thought to be in excess of £5 billion, which would be a global record for a sports club. However, it falls short of the £6 billion asking price that the current owners were hoping for.

At least two of the six Glazer siblings, Joel and Avram, are said to prefer an option in which an outside investor buys an interest in the club to assist finance large capital projects such as the rebuilding of Old Trafford and Carrington training complex.

According to Ratcliffe’s proposals, Joel and Avram would keep minority ownership in the club but would no longer be in charge of crucial club decisions and would take a back seat at Old Trafford as Ratcliffe’s INEOS group took over.

However, the process’s delay favors Ratcliffe over Qatar. The INEOS owner had always wanted to wait until the conclusion of the season before making a final decision on a proposal since it would allow him to thoroughly examine United’s financial health and outlooks based on season income and probable Champions League status.

Sheikh Jassim, the head of Qatar Islamic Bank, is the son of a former Qatari prime minister and has previously stated that this proposal is a private initiative funded by his Nine Two Foundation rather than the Qatari state. If his bid is accepted, his claim will be scrutinized through vetting procedures.

Qatar Sports Investment – who share a direct link to the Qatari state – are likely to increase their investment in Paris Saint-Germain and remain committed to the French club amid interest in buying Spanish team Malaga. It is unclear if this will impact the bid for United – but the prolonging of the bidding process is likely to pour doubt on the situation.

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