THE Glazer family will be offered a deal to stay on at Manchester United by Britain’s richest man.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos group had been looking at buying the Glazers’ 69 per cent stake in the Old Trafford club.
But now Ratcliffe is ready to make an offer likely to infuriate United fans who are desperate to get rid of their owners of 18 years.
And that could see some fans shifting their support to Qatari banker Sheikh Jasin bin Hamad al-Thani, who still plans to make a bid for a £5.5bn-plus deal when he makes his third offer on Friday.
Sir Jim’s potential gambit would see him still take a controlling stake of more than 50 per cent of the club but allow co-chairmen Joel and Avram Glazer to retain their combined 20 per cent stake.
Such a deal would be likely to cause consternation from the majority of United supporters, who have made their anger and frustration towards the Glazers abundantly clear.
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But it may prove to be the preferred option for the duo, whose desire to remain at the club appears to have grown in recent months.
Sheikh Jassim still intends to bid for full control of the club, while four hedge funds, including Elliott Management and the Carlyle group, will make offer of cash injections to fund future development.
However the new Ratcliffe move could prove a game-changer, even if the prospect of a continued Glazer involvement does bring a backlash from supporters.
Earlier this month, Gary Neville raged at reports that American financial group Carlyle could be set to make a major investment in Man Utd.
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The US based private equity firm is reportedly pitching to take a minority stake in the club.
United legend Neville, who has been vocal about the Glazers, was not happy with the news and vented his frustration on Twitter alongside a picture of the firm’s mission statement.
He said: “No thank you! This doesn’t work for United! The Glazer PR machine keeps leaking this type of minority partnership out there bi-weekly whilst stressing it’s a confidential process. Full Sale Only.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
