I wonder if they'll be laughing when they realize United has just become as rich as those 2 clubs combined with an owner that's likely going to burn hundreds of millions of pounds just to get his boyhood club back to the top of English and European football once again.
Ok let’s play devils advocate here;
Jimmy the Rat is worth $20 billion however most of that wealth is tied up in asset value shares for INEOS where he owns over 60%. He is not liquid rich, he doesn’t have £20 billion in his back pocket!
He’s done a deal which he’s clearly very talented at, it’s the second time he’s outmanoeuvred Qatar and your see I mentioned that way back. He can’t do anything until he buys the 26% he needs to be the major decision maker, his pr machine is quickly stating he’ll own 51% in 3 years moving towards full 100% ownership in 6-7 years.
What can he effectively do in the next 3 years?
1. He can’t Clear the debt because he’s not obliged to as he’s not the majority shareholder therefore the debt continues and the club is strangled by ever rising interest rates, The Glazers will control the way the club is run on a day to day basis for the next three years so 2024-2027. They will be severely hampered by new FSP and FFP rules, it only takes 2 out of those 3 years that we don’t qualify for CL and the value of the club diminishes out of sight?
2. His £1.5 billion for 25% of the club is purely a transaction of cash for shares but he’ll maybe use clever lawyers to make sure that he has the option to buy the remaining percentage of club but there is still no guarantee, the Glazers could agree to sell their remaining controlling shares to the highest bidder in 3 years if they really want with the new owners just paying a move a side fee to Ratcliffe.
3. So we will now be looking at cheap
Loan deals for more average players In January 2024, club will have no real cash to do anything this winter or summer, watch the true fire sale now in the next two transfer windows, United are having a genuine January Sale starting with
Jadon Sancho URP(United Retail Price) £73m now slashed by 70% to Jan Sale £22m we will have the red point of sale all over the club to sell off 8-9 players.
4. INEOS can arrange a loan for refurbishing the stadium since the Glazers can’t get credit, they can charge a small handling fee on that as the club once again lines the pockets of yet another parasite.
5. What he can do is maybe influence who should be employed within the football structure, he might employ Paul Mitchell but that creates even more issues who is Mitchell’s boss, Ratcliffe or Joel Glazer ?
6. He’s probably not even put a clause in the contract to say that when he transfers money to the Glazers for their shares that £90m must be paid in the next three years to alleviate FFP constraints.
For all those fans thinking this a wonderful deal for the club, think again, we do need to hear what INEOS have to say about how they see their investment developing and what influence they will have if any in the day to day running of the club.