The Manchester United sale saga drags on as fresh developments took place on the deadline day scheduled for the second bids. Extensions beyond the widely reported deadline of Wednesday 22nd March 2024, 9:00 pm (UK time) were given to two prominent bidding parties.
A new dawn may very well be upon Manchester United with a potential sale of the club on the cards. An outright sale of the club would spell the end of the Glazer regime, something Manchester United fans across the globe have been yearning for years.
The present ownership of the club has a very strained relationship with the fanbase and which has only become sour over the years.
The Glazer family took complete control of the club back in 2005, at a time when the club was on a consistent upward trajectory and was arguably the biggest and best in the world under the leadership of the legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The hatred of Manchester United fans towards the Glazer family ownership is rooted in the fact that they took over the club by loading huge debt onto it.
The Glazer family took over the club for an estimated amount of 790 million pounds out of which a mere 270 million pounds was their investment; the rest was borrowed by the Glazer family against the club, thereby loading tremendous debt upon the club.
Matters at the club became much worse when Sir Alex Ferguson and the long-serving Chief Executive David Gill both left the club at the end of the 2012-2013 season, with Sir Alex retiring from his position as the manager of the club and David Gill stepping down from the position of Chief Executive.
Consequently, the team has struggled with inconsistency for the past 9 years and has failed to challenge for the Premier League or Champions League trophies let alone the question of winning them.
Ironically, winning these very trophies was expected of the team almost every season before the 2013-2014 season. Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, many managers came and left the club but none of them could bring back the good old glory days, and the Glazer ownership has done little to help the situation as they have continuously pulled out money from the club even when the club and the team have needed it more.
The Sale Of The Club, A Renewed Hope For The Supporters:
The club has been put up for potential sale and among the parties eyeing to invest or purchase the club, the two most prominent ones are Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar and Sir Jim Ratcliffe of the INEOS group.
These said two parties had already made it through the first round of bidding and were expected to place their new bids before the deadline of Wednesday 22nd March 2024, 9:00 pm (UK time) with the Raine group. However, the improved second bids did not come from them by the expiration of the deadline as both these parties have sought extension periods before submitting their new bids. It is expected that new bids from both these said parties will come in the upcoming days when a new deadline is prescribed.
What Does a Potential Sale Mean For The Manchester United Club:
A potential sale of the club to a more wealthy owner who is ambitious sporting-wise and not just in relation to commercial concerns is the best possible chance the club has to again compete for the biggest trophies against immensely wealthy clubs like Chelsea and City.
In the Premier League itself, there are many clubs who have tremendously wealthy ownership like Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea who are more than willing to spend big in order to win trophies, and not just spend big, they have also put in place proper footballing structures and appointed top footballing experts for specific roles so as to make their teams competitive on the pitch.
A similar scenario could very well be expected at United if Sheikh Jassim or Sir Jim were to become the new owners of the club.
Sheikh Jassim in his statement confirming the submission of his first bid had claimed that the ambition is to return the club to its former glories, invest in the stadium, team and training facilities, and that his bid would be free of any debt which is something that would particularly appeal to the United fans considering the scenario when the Glazers took over.
