Ineos also offered an option for the Glazers' full 69%. And where do you get that the 51% worries him?
Man united have lost over £200m in the last 2 years of trading, both years with huge annual turnovers. That’s a concern for any incoming CEO/Owner.
You would not spend £2.6/2.7bn on gaining controlling shares without doing due diligence, SJR does not have an instant financial fix, he’s not paying £2.7bn then paying off the debt of £665m through Ineos to lose money. He’s already made it clear in the media that he won’t go any higher with his bid after the third entry.
The Ineos Board would expect the club to be self sufficient as soon as possible and probably would want the debt absorbed into the parent company paid back. The benefits of their ownership would be no more dividends and no £40m of annual interest payments to service the club debt, crippling our clubs finances but an agreement to repay the capital borrowed from Ineos to clear the debt.
SJR is 70 and he probably has a 10 year plan to turn united around both on the pitch and off the pitch, but it won’t be a quick fix, the club is in such a state financially, Of course it would worry him, yes if he takes over he’ll throw £200m this summer in amortised transfers at the club and try and make them better next season, the problem is three fold ;
1. Stabilise the financial turnover and expenditure to make it sustainable within the new 90% rule this season declining to 70% by 25/26 season. The club would need to level out at £650m with new sponsors and control the wage bill at max of £325m going forward. He then has the added financial concerns of Building or redeveloping a new stadium, How, When and the cost and how would he finance, probably more debt ?
2. To employ an Elite DOF, that has the experience and expertise to oversee this 10 year plan, where top targets like Caciedo are not just identified but purchased for £4-5m and maybe sent to parent club Nice First. We know he favours Paul Mitchell whose young but is he truly best in class and can he create a conveyor of elite young talent to support the manager, can he identify the next superstar before the price rockets?
3. Improve the football team on the pitch, support the manager, maybe change him; that’s a worry right there, a top united side doesn’t lose 8 or 9 games away from home from 19 played and it certainly doesn’t bottle top 4 when it only needs 13 points from last 8 games.
As you can see there is an awful lot for a 70 year old billionaire to worry about and I haven’t even mentioned the feeeback from the fans should he take control with Avram and Joel staying in some capacity !
