There are so many outstanding questions with these bids that it is really difficult to rank them on their own merit (political considerations aside).
We are hearing that the Glazers want 6B, but is that 6B for their shares, or is that the valuation of the whole club, and their shares would be 4B or so? Are both bidders intending to purchase the rest of the shares, or only the Qataris?
I read somewhere that INEOS would borrow to pay off the existing debt, and take it on themselves, but I don’t remember an actual INEOS statement to that effect.
People are assuming that the Qatari bid would clear the existing debt, but I don’t think their statement explicitly said that, only that ‘the bid will be completely debt-free’, not that the club will be debt-free after the sale.
What about the transfer debt? I assume that stays because it isn’t really debt, it is scheduled payments to other clubs, and paying bills before they are due isn’t something businessmen like doing.
What are their plans for Old Trafford? Both will invest in the stadium, but is that a new 100,000 seat stadium or a couple of big buckets of red paint?