Sir Jim Ratcliffe: I want to buy Manchester United | Will make a bid for the club [Telegraph]

sglowrider said:
It's a PR activity to deflect off the ski clubhouse/Radcliffe Foundation investigation. Or the timing of official announcement is uncanny.
Besides why announce it publicly? Raine Group is using them to beat the bushes to unearth the more serious potential buyers?
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To gain public momentum and support, the Glazers have mooted a possibility of seeing a minority share, making bold public statements that there is a realistic outright purchase would turn the fans even more against the Glazers were they to not then sell
 
Gandalf said:
The bolded is the key. That debt is club owned and currently stands at around 500 million or so. We have not had any indication that new owners intend to pay it off and if they do it will likely only be to convert it into another loan. The idea that it will simply be paid off by new owners as a gift is fairly improbable. Chelsea had the good fortune that their debt was shifted to a holding company and then it was waived by Roman to close the sale, we are not in such a fortunate position.
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Yeah it remains to be seen what will happen with the debt. I dunno, maybe just hopeful thoughts but I do feel like the debt would be cleared with the purchase but then another (much larger one) comes in with the refinancing for renovations. The thing with our debt was that the Glazers had no intention to ever pay it off, because they were in it to grab dividends and then to sell it. If we get an owner in who plans on just owning it as a big asset that grows over time, it'll be different IMO and they would run the club with the intention for the club gaining in value, operating well, being smart and self sufficient. Part of that would be clearing the debt one way or another, whether through a gift during the take over or a change in how they operate to pay it off.
 
Gandalf said:
The bolded is the key. That debt is club owned and currently stands at around 500 million or so. We have not had any indication that new owners intend to pay it off and if they do it will likely only be to convert it into another loan. The idea that it will simply be paid off by new owners as a gift is fairly improbable. Chelsea had the good fortune that their debt was shifted to a holding company and then it was waived by Roman to close the sale, we are not in such a fortunate position.
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We're not going to be Roman lucky for sure but the terms of the loan may dictate how/if it's paid off, his was a personal loan whilst ours is a bank loan which will presumably secured in some fashion
 
Zed 101 said:
To gain public momentum and support, the Glazers have mooted a possibility of seeing a minority share, making bold public statements that there is a realistic outright purchase would turn the fans even more against the Glazers were they to not then sell
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You really think Radcliffe cares what the fans think at this point? If he is think of the fans or PR then it would be about the investigation about his foundation
 
croadyman said:
He seems to divide opinion for two reasons

1. He hasn't enough money to sustain it
2. Concerns about how he is running NICE
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Add in that he's a Brexit supporting Tory cnut.

Any billionaire that supported Brexit is a nefarious evil wanker as far as I'm concerned.
 
sglowrider said:
It's a PR activity to deflect off the ski clubhouse/Radcliffe Foundation investigation. Or the timing of official announcement is uncanny.
Besides why announce it publicly? Raine Group is using them to beat the bushes to unearth the more serious potential buyers?
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Yeah could be PR for sure. It could be both though, they want to milk the PR and buy the club.

I doubt they will outbid oil nations in any case.
 
golden_blunder said:
I don’t think the first one to bid will be the one that wins
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They never do.

A little over 13 years ago, my hometown's NHL team had a bid from a rich local businessman known to own a lot of media companies in the country, and that guy thought that he would win because he's the local bidder with strong attachment to local identity as a Quebecois and so on. In the end, he lost the bid to another major company because the proposed bid was ridiculously way below the other party's bid.

If Ratcliffe thinks that he can win the bid just because he's both British and a so-called United fan, he better think twice.
 
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Red in STL said:
Ratcliffe has a personal net worth of 15+ billion almost twice that of Roman and 3 x Boehly

I'm pretty sure he can afford it of he wants it bad enough
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We don't know what his liquid assets are - how much of that £15BN net worth is tied-up in INEOS? The bolded part is also integral to my point - how much DOES he want it? The money he'd have to spend is his life's work, it's pocket change for middle eastern investment funds
 
Red in STL said:
The interest may be £50m but the actual debt isn't going down is it
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The interest is about £25m I think, the £50m figure is plus dividends.

The reason the debt isn't going down is because we spend every other spare penny on wages and transfers...so I'd say that deepens concerns about a for-profit investor
 
I honestly don’t want anyone who looks at us even remotely as a business. I understand that means oil, and I don’t care. We’re practically one of couple if not the only club that is more or less self sustainable (If taken well care of, which we definitely weren’t). Who ever comes, no matter how much he puts into the club, it will never come close to what we actually lost because of gross mismanagement and unfathomable reinvestments, the numbers that were taken out of this club are staggering, we are the champions of the universe for just being afloat, 99,99% of European top league clubs would go bankrupt in our shoes.
 
croadyman said:
Handed on to next generation I guess,still think he will blown out of water. Would be staggered if there's no ME interest.
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Like Jack Walker and we all know what happened after that. One immediate spunk and then downhill ever since. Owned by chicken farmers.
 
Lentwood said:
We don't know what his liquid assets are - how much of that £15BN net worth is tied-up in INEOS? The bolded part is also integral to my point - how much DOES he want it? The money he'd have to spend is his life's work, it's pocket change for middle eastern investment funds
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If we wants it bad enough he can sell off shares of Ineos, that's how business men work, I mean Musk just bought Twitter for $44 billion - it didn't have that in liquid assets, he sold shares to pay for it
 
Glazers are very lucky because of Ten Hag. Now they have a bidding war going on which is funny considering the state of the club just just 1 year ago.
 
Just read a very obvious tweet that made me feel silly for not thinking about it. By declaring his interest, Radcliffe will now encourage others to do so too and thus start a bidding war. Surely the best thing for someone, up against potentially those with unlimited funds would have been to stay quiet and work on it. Unless if he’s banking on the anti Arab sentiment getting him support from the fan base
 
I think if they tie the club needs to put up a poll from the fans ala Arsenal's #ssnhqsanchez
 
tenpoless said:
Glazers are very lucky because of Ten Hag. Now they have a bidding war going on which is funny considering the state of the club just just 1 year ago.
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Ten Hag has little to no impact on the price of the club, neither would SAF if he was still the manager, the real money is made on the commercial side and that's what the business type people are looking at, the oil states are after the prestige and the investment diversification
 
To any prospective owners:

* Get rid of the debt.
* Invest heavily into the infrastructure to put United on par with the best in world football
* Back Ten Hag in the transfer market till the cows come home

Give me that and you have my vote.

Bonus: Send Phil Jones packing.
 
Waynne said:
To any prospective owners:

* Get rid of the debt.
* Invest heavily into the infrastructure to put United on par with the best in world football
* Back Ten Hag in the transfer market till the cows come home

Give me that and you have my vote.

Bonus: Send Phil Jones packing.
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Feel more confident of seeing that from ME ownership than Ratcliffe or US consortiums
 
Plant0x84 said:
In fairness I don’t think it’s the oil they object to, so much as the murder, homophobia and misogyny etc…
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Seriously hate the whatabouterry that spills out around any objection to oil state ownership.

It's a intellectually dishonest stance proper up as a thin veil for supporting human rights abusing regimes just so like the Newcastle fans they can unironically don Kafiyehs.
 
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How much interference will there be from Ratcliffe? Can he make unilateral hiring and firing decisions?
Will he emulate Abramovitch, Mark Cuban, Stan Kroenke or worse?

Under Abramovitch, Mourinho claimed he always picked the teams he sent out, but he was also saddled with players he did not want. Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle also have the acrid scent of money laundering associated with their billions spent. Ineos / Ratcliffe won't need to sports wash the money, meaning less spent.

He's also 70, which isn't dotage, but what happens to the ownership when he dies, which will be anytime from right now to 20 years hence? Ratcliffe moved his tax base to Monaco and saved an amount basically equal to the sale price of United in the process.
 
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