Club Sale | It’s done!

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I think it'll be Americans taking over as part of a consortium like our sale. Or an investor who will remain silent allowing Glazers to continue running the club, but gives them the extra cash boost they would like.
 
Nowhere near.

However they have a good amount of money and would invest in the team, they would also be one of the richest owners in European football (Below Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi). They do things properly here and would hire the right people to run the club. The only question mark as to them actually buying the club is as some people have mentioned, the Abu Dhabi ruling family and the Dubai ruling family are very close and are actually distantly related. The crown prince of Dubai for example recently married a princess of the Abu Dhabi ruling family, so whether they actually try to compete with Abu Dhabi in the same market, in the same league/country, in the same city remains to be seen.


How serious have the rumours of a United interest been in Dubai?
 
They’ve been preparing this for a while, they also did big review to provide options about stadium redevelopment or a new stadium etc which they were never going to be able to do even if they wanted to. That was all for purpose of trying to sell the future opportunities to potential buyers.

They have to be trying to attract Dubai Investment Fund or someone like Ambani. The Glazers are going to want every last penny, there is huge debt to clear and huge is investment required so they must have had some encouragement from someone with very deep pockets.
Ambani would be cool, his wife and kids seem to be sports fans, they own cricket and football franchises in India and are known to run things there quite well.
 
Are they as rich as Newcastle/City owners?

We don't need them to be as rich. The club itself makes enough money on it's own to be fairly competitive when it's not getting robbed. The club's money together with Dubai's money will put every target within our reach.

But it's less about the money and more about the intent. Arabs love football, know football, and want the prestige that comes with winning. And will work towards that end. Likely they will seek out competent people to put in the club and hopefully end the jobs-for-the-boys policy. This is what we need a lot more than money - competitive drive and competence. Dubai is the best case scenario, in my opinion.
 
No one is as rich as the Newcastle owners. City owners are richer than Dubai but the thing is, with Dubai in charge of United, with the takeover clearing our debts, we will be more than self sufficient to compete. Add in the influx of cash they’ll provide, we’d be able to match any of them financially. I’m more excited by the infrastructure they’ll provide to the club from Carrington, to Old Trafford and the reserves and female stadium.

I have family in Milesplatting, Ancoats in Manchester and I’ve been around the surrounding areas and to see what Abu Dhabi has done for City and the area is remarkable. Back then it was just the Asda supermarket that was the flagship of that area but they’ve developed the whole area and added so much value. Dubai would really do the same for United. With our fan base and commercial viability, we’d be the top guns in all areas once again soon.
Yep, that’s a major point that is being overlooked. We don’t need owners as rich as the richest. We just need to be able to spend what we generate with some investment which is not on the scale of others. We’d be able to compete with anyone.
 
It's going to feck up our transfer window isnt it. Can't see them agreeing to any sizable transfers whilst things are in motion.
I highly doubt there would be much activity in the January window even if Glazers were staying.
 
Long long gone, Dubai is doing as well as it’s ever been. Tourism obviously is the biggest earner and it’s never been better. The local clubs are spending more than they’ve ever including my club Al Nasr. So the money is there for sure now and most importantly it’s stable. There’s a property boom right now as well so I’m sure for Dubai it’s a great time for a big purchase like this. In buying United they’d own the biggest of the prizes compared to their fellow Arab owners and knowing them, it’s win at all costs. So we’ll spend spend spend, on the team, the facilities and stadium.
Cheers for the insight, hoping for a brighter chapter for us fans.
 
I will be uneasy if we are bought by any Middle Eastern buyer. Their record of human rights, treatment of women (women who have reported rape have been jailed for being drunk), workers rights etc etc in Dubai are almost on a par with Qatar or Saudi Arabia. As odious as the Glazers were, Dubai or Saudi will be worse
 
I will be uneasy if we are bought by any Middle Eastern buyer. Their record of human rights, treatment of women (women who have reported rape have been jailed for being drunk), workers rights etc etc in Dubai are almost on a par with Qatar or Saudi Arabia. As odious as the Glazers were, Dubai or Saudi will be worse
It'll be Americans i suspect. If a full sale happens
 
if we could get this wrapped up soon the new owners can make their statement signing in January :drool:
 
Can't Norway buy us?

They have loads of money

Already own a tiny stake in both Dortmund and Juventus, but don't see them taking a majority stake in any football club as I don't see the NBIM as anything but a passive owner - which rules out controlling a football club.
 
How far off are we talking

This was from a 2020 Fobes article:

Dubai may have large debts to service – London-based Capital Economics puts them at almost $89 billion, equivalent to more than 80% of the emirate’s GDP – but it also has some attractive assets.


S&P expects Dubai’s debt load to worsen, doesn’t see pre-pandemic recovery until 2023

Ratings agency S&P forecasts an 11% contraction for the Dubai economy in 2020, with an already high debt load set to increase as some of the emirate’s vital sectors struggle to rebound from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

“S&P Global Ratings expects Dubai’s economy will contract sharply by around 11% in 2020, owing in part to its concentration in travel and tourism, two of the industries most affected by COVID-19,” the agency wrote in a client note last week. It sees the economy “only recovering to 2019 levels by 2023.”


 
Yes, in the Middle East they are reputable.

I live in Dubai and it's actually been rumoured here for a while that Dubai/Owners of Emirates Airlines were interested in buying Manchester United. The crown prince of Dubai is a well known fan of United.

Having Sheikh Hamdan as the face of the owners wouldn't be so bad. He got a very likeable vibe about him. Didn't know he was a United fan though (knew his deceased brother was) - which makes it better.
 
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Think we have spent, but more signings in the hope of attracting sponsors and social media coverage. When instead if you sign players who are the right player to propel you to success the other things come anyway. They wanted to make a quick buck.

Actually, to be fair, if there is any logic to their spending (!) I think you've probably called it there!

The craziness of it is that we don't need the players to sell the brand, the club has a big enough name already, more success is what would really take us up a level, but I suppose that is harder to do...
 
Say what you want about the Glazers - at least their wealth isn't derived from slave labour and they don't support oppressive regimes with shameful human rights records.
Yeah, they actually do, they are close friends with the previous PM of Isael. They openly supported Busch and Trump with thier donations.
 
We don't need them to be as rich. The club itself makes enough money on it's own to be fairly competitive when it's not getting robbed. The club's money together with Dubai's money will put every target within our reach.

But it's less about the money and more about the intent. Arabs love football, know football, and want the prestige that comes with winning. And will work towards that end. Likely they will seek out competent people to put in the club and hopefully end the jobs-for-the-boys policy. This is what we need a lot more than money - competitive drive and competence. Dubai is the best case scenario, in my opinion.

I am part of a minority in here who would rather be owned by Dubai/Saudi/Qatari guys then by American consortiums. The reason is that they seem to know how football operate, they have the right attitude and quite frankly they are doing nothing morally wise that the typical US billionaire wouldn't do if allowed to. I agree with your line however we can't deny that at least City is being well run as well. Which means that if everything goes according to script in the end this will be reduced to very fine margins ie who has the most money to spend.
 
I am not great at geography.

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Dubai would probably be one of my preferred choices. I'd feel confident they know what they're doing whereas I wouldn't with American owners.
 
It'll be Americans i suspect. If a full sale happens

Do you think so? US buyers are mostly on the way out (Hicks, Gillett, the Glazers, Liverpool owners etc). Its evident that football is not paying off as it used to do
 
Are they as rich as Newcastle/City owners?
They don’t have to be. All these owners can afford 200/300m summer spends, that’s all that matters. There’s wealth of the owners and there’s effective wealth. We don’t even need a mega rich owner, just someone who lets us spend what we earn would be plenty enough
 
Wait, aren't Dubai and Abu Dhabi both cities of the same country UAE? What's the difference in ownership?
 
They don’t have to be. All these owners can afford 200/300m summer spends, that’s all that matters. There’s wealth of the owners and there’s effective wealth. We don’t even need a mega rich owner, just someone who lets us spend what we earn would be plenty enough

Transfer fees are going up in an exponential way though
 
Wait, aren't Dubai and Abu Dhabi both cities of the same country UAE? What's the difference in ownership?

They are distinct emirates in a state that incorporates seven different emirates, governed by different families. The most powerful and wealthy emirate of the seven is Abu Dhabi by far.
 
They are distinct emirates in a state that incorporates seven different emirates, governed by different families. The most powerful and wealthy emirate of the seven is Abu Dhabi by far.

Where does Sharjah rank on the rich list?
 
Where does Sharjah rank in the riches list?

I’m not sure, certainly behind Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I don’t know much about the other emirates except that Sharjah is an Air Arabia hub.
 
The question I have is why now? Why are both Liverpool and Manchester United being put up for sale at the same time? Seems to me that there are a few things in play:

Failure of European Superleague makes UCL qualification uncertain
Resurgiance of Arsenal and Newcastle makes UCL qualification even more uncertain
Return of high interest rates makes it financially impossible to compete with oil clubs or even lucky clubs on a run of form
Global recession means financially exposed American sports franchises have to contract and retrench

All of this points to the urgent need to finacially restructure the English game or these instabilities start looking like a bubble...
 
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