Club Sale | It’s done!

[NK86]

Absolutely not the outcome I wanted, but let's be clear whatever my feelings are irrelevant to what actually happened, I've been on protests in Manchester for the best part of 18 years be that the 1st ones, the green and gold, the 1958 movement and so on and so on and ypu know what happened after each one Absolutely nothing, I thought after the green and gold that was going to be the one that did move them out, the atmosphere at the Milan CL game that season was febrile but they sat in Tampa or wherever the feck they call home and didn't care.

They got offers to cash out an investment they put virtually no money into for billions of pounds and they didn't want to sell, so while not ideal this is what's happened and I choose to look at the glass half full rather than half empty.

Let's be clear all the people saying turkeys voting for Christmas there is no vote here, we have no say the 1958 campaigned for a full sale only and this is what happened are fans happy no but can they be cautiously optimistic I think so.

I am not saying we as fans can do a lot, however I don’t understand the happiness around this announcement once the details were made known.

It is totally understandable the disappointment some of us are feeling after hearing we may not see the back of those ugly fecks from Tampa for a long time when it once looked like they have dug themselves into a hole from which only a full sale could have let them out. Now we have them banking a billion among them and still retaining the ownership of the club after a year long process where the bidders wanted majority ownership at the minimum.

Almost seems like SJR has got them their Christmas miracle of injecting cash and letting them leech of the club for more years to come.

 

[putzmcgee123]

So whilst the Glazers had 69% of the total shares, they had 100% of the B Shares? Ratcliffe has bought 25% B Shares from them.
You’d wonder what is the point of owning any A Shares.

The point is to not face legal action. One Class A share still gives you the same ownership stake as one Class B share. It's the voting power (set by the plc when these shares were listed) that makes the difference.

The Glazers and entire Board have a fiduciary responsibility to the public shareholders and must act in good faith and in their best interest. If they tried excluding the Class A shareholders from this deal, they would most certainly have faced lawsuits. That's the tradeoff they took with the NYSE listing.

Sure, the listing enabled them to line their pockets and dip into their shares for cash at any time without relinquishing control of the club (as well as pay off a tiny amount of the debts at the IPO). However, it handicapped them in terms of what kind of a deal they were able to reach with Ratcliffe.

 

[NK86]

If the football side of things are good/better then it’s fine keeping the Glazers. The big issue is that we’ve not been good enough on the pitch, we’ve been successful off it.

You can speak for yourself, but I absolutely do not want the Glazers at the club. This is the mental gymnastic which confuses me. It’s like people are just happy to have SJR come in irrespective of what that means to what the ultimate aim of getting rid of these parasites.

 

[TheReligion]

Absolutely not the outcome I wanted, but let's be clear whatever my feelings are irrelevant to what actually happened, I've been on protests in Manchester for the best part of 18 years be that the 1st ones, the green and gold, the 1958 movement and so on and so on and ypu know what happened after each one Absolutely nothing, I thought after the green and gold that was going to be the one that did move them out, the atmosphere at the Milan CL game that season was febrile but they sat in Tampa or wherever the feck they call home and didn't care.

They got offers to cash out an investment they put virtually no money into for billions of pounds and they didn't want to sell, so while not ideal this is what's happened and I choose to look at the glass half full rather than half empty.

Let's be clear all the people saying turkeys voting for Christmas there is no vote here, we have no say the 1958 campaigned for a full sale only and this is what happened are fans happy no but can they be cautiously optimistic I think so.

Another good post.

I suspect many have never actually felt the above hence why we are getting some ridiculously over the top takes in terms of negativity.

 

[Dec9003]

You can speak for yourself, but I absolutely do not want the Glazers at the club. This is the mental gymnastic which confuses me. It’s like people are just happy to have SJR come in irrespective of what that means to what the ultimate aim of getting rid of these parasites.

The ultimate aim for the club is being financially stable and regularly competing for the top honours, that’s objective. I can understand people wanting the Glazer family fully gone, but for me them no longer having sporting control was the main thing. I likely won’t like any person rich enough to own our football club anyway, unless we could go to fan ownership which we can’t then I couldn’t care less who is running the business/financial side.

 

[TheReligion]

I am not saying we as fans can do a lot, however I don’t understand the happiness around this announcement once the details were made known.

It is totally understandable the disappointment some of us are feeling after hearing we may not see the back of those ugly fecks from Tampa for a long time when it once looked like they have dug themselves into a hole from which only a full sale could have let them out. Now we have them banking a billion among them and still retaining the ownership of the club after a year long process where the bidders wanted majority ownership at the minimum.

Almost seems like SJR has got them their Christmas miracle of injecting cash and letting them leech of the club for more years to come.

With all due respect that’s your problem. No one wants the Glazers. We are all on the same page with this.

Plenty of people have explained their thoughts and feelings. You don’t seem to be able to accept that there’s a middle ground where you can sit and take some positives away moving forwards.

The fight for them to go will continue and this offers a far bigger foothold than we’ve ever had since they arrived.

 

[bond19821982]

When was the last time Glazers didn't spend the money ? They have always been willing to spend. We just spent on wrong players . Hopefully with Glazers purely on commercial side, Jim can bring some actual footballing experience and steady us. It can't get any worse for sure ?

I have been a huge Qatar fan and wanted them to take over (because they promised to clear all the debts) but come on, whatever we are hearing isn't bad ? The least we can give is some time and see where it takes us. Even a small change in how we operate is a win for us.

 

[JohnnyKills]

You can speak for yourself, but I absolutely do not want the Glazers at the club. This is the mental gymnastic which confuses me. It’s like people are just happy to have SJR come in irrespective of what that means to what the ultimate aim of getting rid of these parasites.

It's about being realistic, isn't it. The Glazers were never going to sell at a reasonable valuation, so this was the only feasible option.

 

[sullydnl]

You can speak for yourself, but I absolutely do not want the Glazers at the club. This is the mental gymnastic which confuses me. It’s like people are just happy to have SJR come in irrespective of what that means to what the ultimate aim of getting rid of these parasites.

If people believe INEOS can deliver success under this arrangement then it should be pretty obvious why that's the case. The vast majority of people would obviously prefer success under the Glazers rather than the pyrrhic victory of a continued barren spell that eventually sees them leave. They're not weirdos.

Whether people should believe INEOS can deliver that success is a separate matter, but obviously Manchester United doing well is the actual ultimate aim, not getting rid of the Glazers. Even if everyone agrees the Glazers themselves are a hindrance to that ultimate aim.

And of course nothing about this arrangement precludes the Glazers from leaving in the coming years.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

When was the last time Glazers didn't spend the money ? They have always been willing to spend. We just spent on wrong players . Hopefully with Glazers purely on commercial side, Jim can bring some actual footballing experience and steady us. It can't get any worse for sure ?

They're spending the clubs money though, and haven't invested a penny of their own. The facilities are outdated and they've just made £1 Billion of pure profit from Sir Jim while the club is still in £600 million of debt.

Buy a club with bank loaned money, then sell the shares of that club for a ridiculous amount of money for yourself, while not paying off any of the debt. Don't pretend they're generous.

 

[bosnian_red]

It’s slightly different now. We have been in the red last 4 quarters. We have a squad full of players who are not good or past their sell by date. Plus there is the small issue of FFP.
We will need to circumvent around all of this and that will need a lot of capital. The Glazers are still in complete control of the club, with nothing on the horizon on if they will give that up.

Personally feel this was the worst possible outcome, barring being bought by a hedge fund and then asset stripped, when this process started more than a year back. Everyone on here wanted a full sale and full sale only. Now we have all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify as this being a good deal.

FFP is exactly the example that its about decisions, not funds available. We have pushed out FFP limit every year. We don't make smart purchases, we don't make smart sales, we don't offer smart wages. Based on our revenues, we can't spend more even if we wanted to, apart from the specific owner cash injection amount that FFP allows you to go over by. We shouldn't be in a place where we need that.

Saying here everyone wanted a full sale only is pointless. Nobody wanted the Glazers 20 years ago. They are here. It's their club. Nobody can force them out if they don't want to leave. They sold part of it to Ratcliffe, and relinquished all the sporting control. That is a huge plus and something every single person here would've been delighted at, if it was done smoothly. Bunch of kids being unable to look at the big picture and see what is actually a big change. The amount of fans who got blinded by fake promises from some AI generated guy where they are willing for the club to turn their back on everything it stands for is pathetic. We aren't a Disneyland club. We never have been. We need to be smartly run, and get back to doing things the right way and improve like that and work our way up.

 

[NK86]

With all due respect that’s your problem. No one wants the Glazers. We are all on the same page with this.

Plenty of people have explained their thoughts and feelings. You don’t seem to be able to accept that there’s a middle ground where you can sit and take some positives away moving forwards.

The fight for them to go will continue and this offers a far bigger foothold than we’ve ever had since they arrived.

I hope you are right but what exactly have the protests accomplished the last 18 years that you suddenly feel this will change anything? That is just another stakeholder who cannot force the Glazers to sell anything in the future. Only way to have gotten them out is when they are struggling with the club financially. That moment was now. Now they have gotten someone to get them out of that crater they had created for themselves.

 

[RedUnited86]

They're spending the clubs money though, and haven't invested a penny of their own. The facilities are outdated and they've just made £1 Billion of pure profit from Sir Jim while the club is still in £600 million of debt.

Buy a club with bank loaned money, then sell the shares of that club for a ridiculous amount of money for yourself, while not paying off any of the debt. Don't pretend they're generous.

This.

They're allowing the club to spend its own money, after we're having to pay and service their debt and give them dividends, of course. How very generous of them.

Hope they choke on their turkey.

 

[DutchSerb]

Hope he can bring some competent people in.

 

[bosnian_red]

I hope you are right but what exactly have the protests accomplished the last 18 years that you suddenly feel this will change anything? That is just another stakeholder who cannot force the Glazers to sell anything in the future. Only way to have gotten them out is when they are struggling with the club financially. That moment was now. Now they have gotten someone to get them out of that crater they had created for themselves.

I think you are confused into thinking the Glazers were actually pressured to sell because of our football struggles. That is very much not the case. There is a movement in football where a lot of people feel that the never ending rise of popularity of the sport has somewhat peaked, that the value of clubs, players and all the costs associated with it has peaked. The new TV deal in the Prem is for the first time less per match than the previous one. This is why business men like the Glazers felt the time was right to cash in a bit. They aren't fully convinced, so the siblings were split on it, and Ratcliffes offer at least gave them the option to still be involved while pocketing some money.

From our perspective, the alternative was that they just retain control of football operations and full control of the club. Thinking that they were close to selling fully was nonsense. They had a figure for that, nobody came close, even in a bidding war with a nation state. Qatar could have paid up. They didn't want to. And so the Glazers didn't sell. That is all there is to that. It was never a real option, don't fool yourself into thinking it was.

 

[TheReligion]

I hope you are right but what exactly have the protests accomplished the last 18 years that you suddenly feel this will change anything? That is just another stakeholder who cannot force the Glazers to sell anything in the future. Only way to have gotten them out is when they are struggling with the club financially. That moment was now. Now they have gotten someone to get them out of that crater they had created for themselves.

Again I think you are wrong or only seeing what you want to see. Perhaps a combination of both.

The fact you suggest SJR is ‘just another stakeholder’ is a bit odd given we both know that’s clearly not the case.

I’m not going to argue as I think my stance is quite clear. What I don’t like though, and I’m not saying this is you, is some posters acting high and mighty trying to mock those who have taken something positive from the news.

The Glazers have given up a chunk of the club and lost control of sporting operations.

It’s 100% positive for the club and for the fans. That’s a fact.

 

[NK86]

FFP is exactly the example that its about decisions, not funds available. We have pushed out FFP limit every year. We don't make smart purchases, we don't make smart sales, we don't offer smart wages. Based on our revenues, we can't spend more even if we wanted to, apart from the specific owner cash injection amount that FFP allows you to go over by. We shouldn't be in a place where we need that.

Saying here everyone wanted a full sale only is pointless. Nobody wanted the Glazers 20 years ago. They are here. It's their club. Nobody can force them out if they don't want to leave. They sold part of it to Ratcliffe, and relinquished all the sporting control. That is a huge plus and something every single person here would've been delighted at, if it was done smoothly. Bunch of kids being unable to look at the big picture and see what is actually a big change. The amount of fans who got blinded by fake promises from some AI generated guy where they are willing for the club to turn their back on everything it stands for is pathetic. We aren't a Disneyland club. We never have been. We need to be smartly run, and get back to doing things the right way and improve like that and work our way up.

Basically anyone who doesn’t lap up the kool aid which SJR is giving is a kid who is throwing his toys out of his pram?

How about all the pro-SJR posters on here and their absolute belief that “Jim is a shrewd businessman who would never pump money into this without a guarantee of majority ownership”? How about them doing a 180 and saying that this is a great outcome.

If at the start of the full sale process, this was proposed, would you have accepted it if Jassim was not part of the process? Is your absolute anti-Qatar stance so strong that you are now fine to go from “full sale only” to “majority ownership sale” to “partial sale with iron clad options to sell at a later date” to this final state of “buying 25% with no guarantee of ever getting the Glazers out”.

 

[TheReligion]

Basically anyone who doesn’t lap up the kool aid which SJR is giving is a kid who is throwing his toys out of his pram?

How about all the pro-SJR posters on here and their absolute belief that “Jim is a shrewd businessman who would never pump money into this without a guarantee of majority ownership”? How about them doing a 180 and saying that this is a great outcome.

If at the start of the full sale process, this was proposed, would you have accepted it if Jassim was not part of the process? Is your absolute anti-Qatar stance so strong that you are now fine to go from “full sale only” to “majority ownership sale” to “partial sale with iron clad options to sell at a later date” to this final state of “buying 25% with no guarantee of ever getting the Glazers out”.

I think you see it as black and white but can’t accept there’s a middle ground where you can still be positive moving forward.

The whole pro camp stuff is childish.

 

[Tony247]

Hope this is a beginning of something good.

 

[lex talionis]

Trust is earned. What exactly have the Glazets or Ratcliffe ever done to earn our trust?

If it’s hope we rush to feel, fine, but we’ve been hoping for better decisions by the club for a decade now.

 

[bosnian_red]

Basically anyone who doesn’t lap up the kool aid which SJR is giving is a kid who is throwing his toys out of his pram?

How about all the pro-SJR posters on here and their absolute belief that “Jim is a shrewd businessman who would never pump money into this without a guarantee of majority ownership”? How about them doing a 180 and saying that this is a great outcome.

If at the start of the full sale process, this was proposed, would you have accepted it if Jassim was not part of the process? Is your absolute anti-Qatar stance so strong that you are now fine to go from “full sale only” to “majority ownership sale” to “partial sale with iron clad options to sell at a later date” to this final state of “buying 25% with no guarantee of ever getting the Glazers out”.

It is a very good outcome. It's not a perfect outcome. Get your head out of your ass thinking that the perfect outcome was possible, it's not a perfect world. It's business, and the owners didn't want a full sale. What we got was a local guy, rather than being run by a murderous nation state. What we got was a lifelong United supporter who is the richest person in the UK (I think), to take full control over the sporting side of the club.

How can't you see that is a massive win from where we were? Don't forget, "dreams can't be buy". Take the (very big) positive and look forward to how we can improve from here.

Beyond pettiness of their name being here, the Glazers shouldn't actually stop us from improving. Yes, they might take out dividends now and then. It's such a miniscule amount compared to the big picture. Yes it's not ideal. But a competent owner should be able to just manage our own money without external injections, our yearly revenues, our wage budgets, our transfer budgets, and get us back to competing at the very top consistently. We don't need oil money. We need smart management because our revenues are already basically oil money.

When the start of the process was announced, they suggested partial investment or full sale. They didn't say one or the other. The reports that came out was they had a figure in mind for the full sale, and otherwise it was a partial investment. Nobody got close to the full sale target. So a partial sale with losing sporting control is literally the next best thing for us. I don't care about the specifics of majority or partial with future takings or whatever else. I wanted somebody else in charge of sporting matters. That is what will make the real difference.

And yes, my anti any nation state stance is so strong that I never wanted us to be bought by any of them. I was worried that this club would go down the shutter and become a political toy, a puppet for one of these murderous regimes, rather than remain a normal football club. I'd rather us remain a bit shit with the Glazers than go down the road of being bought out by a murderous (or any) state. That shouldn't be allowed in football, and just because it already is there doesn't mean my mentality will switch to "if you can't beat them, join them". I'm plenty fine to keep supporting a Manchester United that does things the right way even if we aren't winning the league every year.

It's a football club. All I care about is we do things the right way, we stay true to our values, we respect the community and we have a smart, functioning plan that we stick to for constant improvement, and we strive for this constant improvement. Luckily for us, we are more than rich enough to still do this and be successful even with some leeches taking bits of money out rather than investing into the club themselves. Smart management is needed. Not a sugar daddy.

 

[laughtersassassin]

So sounds like whenever Ineos invest more money they will be getting issued more shares.

So they'll slowly gain more percentage control.

 

[NK86]

Again I think you are wrong or only seeing what you want to see. Perhaps a combination of both.

The fact you suggest SJR is ‘just another stakeholder’ is a bit odd given we both know that’s clearly not the case.

I’m not going to argue as I think my stance is quite clear. What I don’t like though, and I’m not saying this is you, is some posters acting high and mighty trying to mock those who have taken something positive from the news.

The Glazers have given up a chunk of the club and lost control of sporting operations.

It’s 100% positive for the club and for the fans. That’s a fact.

Let’s not go around in circles on this. I think in isolation this is good news if this was done because the Glazers actually took this decision based on them understanding they need someone else to come in to help them with the footballing operations. However this was necessitated because they needed investment in the club and they have never paid a penny out of their pocket and were also agreeable to a full sale. From a whole year of full sale discussions to this is a major let down.

Plus there are no talks about what will happen to the debt. Maybe we will get more clarity new year with the engagement with MUST, but I doubt anything will come of it seeing that no minority stakeholder will reduce the debt from their own pocket to benefit the owners.

 

[bond19821982]

They're spending the clubs money though, and haven't invested a penny of their own. The facilities are outdated and they've just made £1 Billion of pure profit from Sir Jim while the club is still in £600 million of debt.

Buy a club with bank loaned money, then sell the shares of that club for a ridiculous amount of money for yourself, while not paying off any of the debt. Don't pretend they're generous.

Ofcourse but that's not the point. We aren't talking whether Glazers has been a good owner or bad owner.

 

[NK86]

It is a very good outcome. It's not a perfect outcome. Get your head out of your ass thinking that the perfect outcome was possible, it's not a perfect world. It's business, and the owners didn't want a full sale. What we got was a local guy, rather than being run by a murderous nation state. What we got was a lifelong United supporter who is the richest person in the UK (I think), to take full control over the sporting side of the club.

How can't you see that is a massive win from where we were? Don't forget, "dreams can't be buy". Take the (very big) positive and look forward to how we can improve from here.

Beyond pettiness of their name being here, the Glazers shouldn't actually stop us from improving. Yes, they might take out dividends now and then. It's such a miniscule amount compared to the big picture. Yes it's not ideal. But a competent owner should be able to just manage our own money without external injections, our yearly revenues, our wage budgets, our transfer budgets, and get us back to competing at the very top consistently. We don't need oil money. We need smart management because our revenues are already basically oil money.

Keep drinking the kool aid buddy. And keep flipping your opinions at the drop of a hat. Just surmises my point very well.

I had said long back I was fine with SJR beating Qatar as long as he at least had a path to full ownership. Almost everyone on here were of the opinion that SJR will definitely have call and put options in this contract. All that went up in smoke and we have posters like yourself lapping every bit as if that is all we craved all along.

 

[DavelinaJolie]

Well I look upon this partial stake in Manchester United positively.
It is clear that we can not keep doing the same thing and expecting better results.
Something has to change.
And this is certainly a big change, at least on the football side.

So I welcome this change. Although many will have a different view.

I agree, I understand people's concerns regarding the future control of the club, but I'm just glad for some change around how the footballing side operates and someone with at least high level sporting and football experience doing that.

 

[Blood Mage]

It's going to be sickening watching the Glazers sit back and take their dividends if/when Ratcliffe sorts their mess out. We should have driven the bastards out but the fanbase is too divided.

 

[TheReligion]

Let’s not go around in circles on this. I think in isolation this is good news if this was done because the Glazers actually took this decision based on them understanding they need someone else to come in to help them with the footballing operations. However this was necessitated because they needed investment in the club and they have never paid a penny out of their pocket and were also agreeable to a full sale. From a whole year of full sale discussions to this is a major let down.

Plus there are no talks about what will happen to the debt. Maybe we will get more clarity new year with the engagement with MUST, but I doubt anything will come of it seeing that no minority stakeholder will reduce the debt from their own pocket to benefit the owners.

Again you don’t know any of this. Both could be true as they are intertwined.

I believe the Glazers have recognised they are incapable of sorting out football operations some time ago, since Woodward left and they tried to restructure (even if they didn’t go far enough as they couldn’t quite bring themselves to relinquish control and made internal promotions like Murtough).

Hiring Rangnick in his strange interim/consultant role then getting rid because they didn’t like what he said, or perhaps Murtough/Arnold didn’t like what he said, was the last straw.

Now they’ve had to finally step away from football operations and embarrassingly accept they’ve made a mess.

INEOS were very vocal about how poor the club set up was during the process and how much work needed doing. This must have been again embarrassing for the Glazers, much like the Rangnick assessment, yet this time they have had to accept it and step away.

I have to say I do find it strange some can’t see why others would be happy about this.

 

[bosnian_red]

Keep drinking the kool aid buddy. And keep flipping your opinions at the drop of a hat. Just surmises my point very well.

I had said long back I was fine with SJR beating Qatar as long as he at least had a path to full ownership. Almost everyone on here were of the opinion that SJR will definitely have call and put options in this contract. All that went up in smoke and we have posters like yourself lapping every bit as if that is all we craved all along.

I've been consistent in my view.

It's a football club. All I care about is we do things the right way, we stay true to our values, we respect the community and we have a smart, functioning plan that we stick to for constant improvement, and we strive for this constant improvement. Luckily for us, we are more than rich enough to still do this and be successful even with some leeches taking bits of money out rather than investing into the club themselves. Smart management is needed. Not a sugar daddy.

Nation states shouldn't be allowed to own a football club irrespective of human rights records, but especially with shit ones like them. I never wanted us to get a sugar daddy. What I wanted was an owner to operate us smartly, put a good structure in place where we do things smartly.

Sorry I'm not a child who is blinded by rage at the Glazers where I can see that this is actually a win for us compared to before. It's nobody's fault but your own that you actually thought the Glazers were going to sell fully. We don't know what the future holds. But what we do know is that the amount of money the Glazers wanted for a full sale was so unrealistic that not even an oil state like Qatar wanted to pay up for it. So with that in mind, you tell me who has been drinking the Kool aid in terms of what is a realistic prospect or not? We very easily could have closed this process with no change, as often happens. Or even more likely ith a hedge fund just buying a small portion of the club with no change in sporting control just to line the Glazers pockets. This is literally the best realistic scenario here, where we didn't get purchased by a nation state and the Glazers are no longer in sporting control.

 

[bosnian_red]

It's going to be sickening watching the Glazers sit back and take their dividends if/when Ratcliffe sorts their mess out. We should have driven the bastards out but the fanbase is too divided.

Fans aren't actually able to make them sell. They own the club. They don't have to if they don't want to, and nothing has actually impacted that. They chose to investigate the market because some of them feel that football has peaked a bit in terms of the values (as new TV deal shows), not because of fan pressure. Let's be real here.

 

[bosnian_red]

Let’s not go around in circles on this. I think in isolation this is good news if this was done because the Glazers actually took this decision based on them understanding they need someone else to come in to help them with the footballing operations. However this was necessitated because they needed investment in the club and they have never paid a penny out of their pocket and were also agreeable to a full sale. From a whole year of full sale discussions to this is a major let down.

Plus there are no talks about what will happen to the debt. Maybe we will get more clarity new year with the engagement with MUST, but I doubt anything will come of it seeing that no minority stakeholder will reduce the debt from their own pocket to benefit the owners.

They were only open to a full sale if their personal valuation was met. By all accounts, nobody came close, not even within a billion of it. What'd they want, £7-8bln? This offer puts the value at around £5bln, which was more than what Qatar was bidding ultimately.

 

[Plant0x84]

I've been on protests in Manchester for the best part of 18 years be that the 1st ones, the green and gold, the 1958 movement and so on

Respect.

 

[Castia]

It's going to be sickening watching the Glazers sit back and take their dividends if/when Ratcliffe sorts their mess out. We should have driven the bastards out but the fanbase is too divided.

Wait till Jimmy starts taking dividends too just like he does out of his Merc F1 investment

 

[MonkeysMagic]

Like most, I can only hope that the share acquisition by SJR sets the gears in motion to eventually oust the leeches. If we are to believe that some of the Glazer siblings also wanted completely out, then this may also allow Ineos to steadily grow their shareholding by acquiring their individual shares. The key issue that we need to resolve is on the footballing side, so having the right people involved in footballing strategy, transfers, youth development and then infrastructure.

Decisions made over the next 2-3 months well tell us what SJR has in mind, I'm sure he has not been sat idle for the last 3 months when his bid looked to have succeeded. If they really don't believe in ETH as manager, letting him limp along doesn't achieve anything so we may also see whether they believe I'm him at all.

 

[bosnian_red]

Like most, I can only hope that the share acquisition by SJR sets the gears in motion to eventually oust the leeches. If we are to believe that some of the Glazer siblings also wanted completely out, then this may also allow Ineos to steadily grow their shareholding by acquiring their individual shares. The key issue that we need to resolve is on the footballing side, so having the right people involved in footballing strategy, transfers, youth development and then infrastructure.

Decisions made over the next 2-3 months well tell us what SJR has in mind, I'm sure he has not been sat idle for the last 3 months when his bid looked to have succeeded. If they really don't believe in ETH as manager, letting him limp along doesn't achieve anything so we may also see whether they believe I'm him at all.

Eh, as much as I've lost faith in ten hag, there is also business sense in waiting out the season. Smart business is also being patient for the right people, not spending big just to rush something by a few months, spending at the right points in time, doing things in the right order. Smart business is committing to building properly rather than chasing stop gaps to chase a CL spot rather than starting our rebuild properly.

Our #1 priorities are changing the structure above the manager, getting the right people in place, making our plans for how we want to build and assessments on what we have, and then starting to clear out a lot of the shit we've accumulated. Next priority is fixing our FFP situation so that once that is done, we actually can build properly on the pitch. Unfortunately we are so far in the shit that significant on pitch changes and impact are not imminent, and will take some time for everything else to be sorted first before it starts showing on the pitch.

 

[TheReligion]

Wait till Jimmy starts taking dividends too just like he does out of his Merc F1 investment

Well he is investing his own money in to the club unlike the Glazers so not sure of your point.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

It isn’t dreamed up, it was reported by multiple outlets at the time the 25% thing broke. At worst people are guilty of believing the media.
After all a full sale and the Glazers gone is what we all wanted. Why wouldn’t we believe that was still possible some way?

You’re the same guy that’s waffles on about not believing all the press report when it comes to players/the manager in other threads so not sure why the sudden change. Oh yes, it doesn’t suit todays narrative.

Facts are there was never a nothing substantial yet many posters were shoving full ownership down the throats of whoever questioned this investment model.

I hope it goes well but spent months on the end of you ItKs chatting out your arses.

Merry Christmas btw

Have a day off.

I’ve posted my thoughts on it so can’t be arsed repeating myself.

It is quite possible to see the positives in this deal even if it isn’t the best case scenario we all wanted.

To suggest this is pretty much the worse case scenario is utter bollocks though as anything which dilutes the Glazers, in both ownership and control, is a great thing for the club moving forward.

Supporters have the right to have a little optimism, even if there’s some caution attached.

The fact INEOS/SJR have already reached out to the supporters trust for open discussion in the New Year is another breath of fresh air so why not let people take the positives away from this huge change in club dynamics and for the first time in 18 years enjoy the Glazers taking a backwards step from Manchester United Football Club?

I’ve called this an improvement on what we had & would class myself as cautiously optimistic, as you describe. I’m simply not drinking the koolaid people are trying to spin that anything that dilutes the Glazers ownership is great as that is nonsense. The fanbase has been cucked so much in the past few years were meant to celebrate a ‘football structure’ ffs! aka a football club hiring football people to do their jobs. Whilst the club remains indebted & will continue to fall further behind in terms of infrastructure.

SjR has spent $1.6bil, of that $300mil will hit the club. That is not ‘great’.

Speaking of days off. . .

Edit: In answer to your final question. I’m not trying to stop people taking away positives, I have myself. I’m just tempering the rhetoric as this isn’t a great day for the club at all, it’s a step in a direction. The club is still fecked.

 

[VP89]

Wait till Jimmy starts taking dividends too just like he does out of his Merc F1 investment

Hes investing 300m of his own money into the club already, and you're concerned with a hypothetical dividend? Good one.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

I’ve had a lot of experience in acquisitions and limited partnerships. There is a lot of handwringing which really isn’t necessary. The reason the Glazers did it this way is that they didn’t reach their target valuation. Now, we don’t know if the 25% of the voting shares is coming from some of Glazer kids, or if all the Glazers will be diluted. When you realize that 69% of the corporation is owned by the Glazers, obtaining 25% of the company in Class B voting shares is essentially giving SJR full control. It means he’ll have roughly 38% of the voting shares, and he’ll be the largest shareholder.

Most major board level decisions require 66.7% of the shares/board to approve a resolution. When I say “major”, I mean new injection of capital, new shareholders, issuance of new shares, purchase of assets over, say, a certain amount, like 10m. As such, Sir Jim likely has veto power over any resolution raised by the Glazers, because they won’t have the 66.7% to outvote him. That’s why he has operational control. In addition, he’s added another 300m in capital injection commitments, which dilutes the Glazers further, by another 5-6%… meaning he’ll have 30%+ of total shares and 45% (roughly) of the voting shares.

On top of that, he’s committed to buy 25% of the class A non-voting shares @$33 a share. That’s a premium of $13 per share! As this happens, the value of the A shares will go up… and we know there is a vehicle to convert Glazers voting shares to non-voting shares which they can sell on the open market, or Sir Jim also has right of first refusal.

‘Look… the beginning of the end of the Glazers is here. This is a very savvy move by Sir Jim. TheCaf is saying the Glazers are “smart” and Sir Jim is “stupid”. No! This was the only way to get the Glazers out without meeting the undeserved sky high valuations they were demanding.

It’s happening people… the Glazers are on their way out. My guess is that Sir Jim will take full control, and own 51% of the voting shares with 18 month. The Glazers will be completed out, or just a minority shareholder, which is very common in These types of transactions.

Thanks for this post. Make it easy for us layman to understand the investment.

 

[bosnian_red]

SjR has spent $1.6bil, of that $300mil will hit the club. That is not ‘great’.

Well... Yes, Ratcliffe had to purchase his share first from the current owners so that he can then start investing and having control to make decisions. That is normal. If they spent 7 billion on the club for full control, that still wouldn't be 7 billion going to the club. It would be going to the Glazers.