Why The Manchester United Takeover Isn’t What It Seems
The Manchester United takeover saga with INEOS owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe's 25%. Glazers retaining their majority stake, how exactly would the new structure work, and is this a good thing for Manchester United?
Transcript
00:00 So, first off, Sir Jim Radcliffe, born in Falesworth, Greater Manchester, is a British
00:05 billionaire, engineer and chairman of chemical giant Ineos.
00:08 He's reported to be the second richest man in the UK and his net worth, at last estimate,
00:14 is of almost £30 billion.
00:16 He owns FC Luzon Sport, currently third bottom of the Swiss league, having been relegated
00:21 in 2022, and OGC Nice, who are currently second in Ligue 1 and got to the quarterfinals of
00:27 last year's Europa Conference League.
00:29 He also put something in the region of £4.2 billion up to try and buy Chelsea, when Abramovich
00:34 was hurriedly shredding all its documents, but lost out to Todd Bowley.
00:38 The proposed new structure would see Radcliffe take control of sporting decisions immediately.
00:44 Both him and other representatives from Ineos would take seats on the board, meaning that
00:49 in matters relating to the actual football, they would have enough influence within the
00:53 company to basically do as they please.
00:56 They wouldn't need approval for transfers, sales, investments, firing and appointing
01:00 managers, scouting, recruitment, development, all the really good stuff from any of the
01:06 glazers.
01:07 Reports are that he has really ambitious plans for this part of the operation, and would
01:11 look to entirely restructure the club with his own hand-picked appointments.
01:16 Julian Ward and Michael Edwards, two of the men responsible for Liverpool's resurgence
01:20 in recent years, have been mentioned.
01:22 Paul Mitchell, the man behind the transfer golden periods of Southampton under Pochettino,
01:27 Tottenham also under Pochettino, and more recently RB Leipzig, is said to be their top
01:32 target.
01:33 Elsewhere in the various other roles that all feed into the club's footballing operation,
01:37 there are rumours of significant outgoings.
01:40 Unite the Chief Executive Richard Arnold being chief amongst them, with every position likely
01:44 to see some form of upheaval if Radcliffe takes control.
01:48 But here's the thing, Radcliffe might really love his football, but he's yet to prove
01:54 he's actually any good at it.
01:57 In the six years before Radcliffe bought Nice for 100 million euros, the club finished in
02:02 the top four of Ligue 1 three times.
02:04 In the 2016/17 season, they were top of the table at Christmas, lost just four games all
02:10 season and very nearly upset PSG to the title.
02:14 But since his acquisition in 2019, it's been a continuing period of upheaval with
02:19 no success to show for it.
02:20 Big money Premier League players like Kasper Schmeichel, Aaron Ramsey, Ross Barkley and
02:25 Nicolas Pepe have all come and gone without any real impact, and there was, ahead of this
02:29 season, a growing sense of detachment between the club and its fans.
02:34 However, at the time of recording, they are second in the table and the only undefeated
02:39 side in Ligue 1, so it may be starting to finally turn around.
02:43 There is of course the small complication that UEFA does not allow two clubs owned by
02:47 the same people to play in the same competition, but that's obviously only a problem if he
02:52 gets control of Manchester United.
02:54 So is he gonna get control of Manchester United?
02:58 Well, when Radcliffe initially approached the club, he was looking to buy 51% of it,
03:04 and he wanted to do so entirely through the stake that the Glazers owned.
03:08 However, this ultimately fell through because, according to The Athletic, while the non-Glazers
03:12 are members of the board only control 10% of the voting rights, they threatened legal
03:17 action against the sale because, with Radcliffe not offering to buy any of their shares, they
03:22 stood to lose out on a significant financial windfall.
03:25 This new bid is for a mere 25% of the company, and has, reportedly, been accepted.
03:31 However, it now has to be approved by the club's board of directors, 12 people who
03:36 between them control 100% of the company.
03:39 Now despite the whole complexities of the structuring, meaning that the Glazers have
03:43 90% of the voting power, that counts for nothing at this level, and a majority decision between
03:49 these 12 individuals must now be reached.
03:52 Yeah, so, in other words, yes, exactly, exactly like that final, gruelling, excruciating scene
03:59 from Succession.
04:00 So who are these 12 people?
04:02 Well, you've got six Glazers in there.
04:05 Avram and Joel operate as co-chairmen of the club and oversee the majority of its business.
04:10 Kevin Glazer, Darcy Glazer, Edward Glazer and Brian Glazer are also on the board, but
04:14 don't really bother themselves with the club, focusing instead on the other concerns within
04:18 their father's business empire.
04:20 Brian Glazer runs the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, I promise you, are a real American football
04:25 team and not a name I've just made up now because it sounds really American.
04:29 Kevin Glazer runs Glazer Properties, a primarily American-based real estate firm that owns
04:34 some of the ugliest buildings you've ever seen in your life.
04:37 Edward Glazer is the chair of US Property Trust and US Auto Trust, which is exactly
04:42 as boring as it sounds.
04:44 And Darcy Glazer spends her time running the Glazer Family Foundation, which is a charitable
04:48 non-profit dedicated to, and I quote, "supporting programs designed to serve disadvantaged youth
04:54 and families."
04:55 Which is really great, but when you try and Google a single one of those programs, nothing
05:00 really comes up.
05:01 Oh well.
05:02 Outside of the family, there are three positions for senior members of the club staff.
05:06 The aforementioned Chief Executive Richard Arnold, awkward CFO Cliff Batty, and the club's
05:11 long-standing legal counsel, Patrick Stewart.
05:14 Annoyingly, if you Google Patrick Stewart Man United, you get this clip from some movie
05:18 in the 90s, and just apologies, but I'm not able to offer any decent context to that at
05:24 this time.
05:25 But I will look it up.
05:26 Anyway, there's also three individuals who, between them, represent the interests of the
05:30 innumerable minority shareholders who all own a tiny little chunk of the club.
05:35 And they are a weird group.
05:37 You've got John Hooks, who's been at the very top of the tree for Ralph Lauren and
05:40 Giorgio Armani, Manu Swani, who was the Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council,
05:46 and Robert Liotto, who works for banking giants Rothschild.
05:49 If you've never heard of them, they're a bank you need £100,000 just to open an account
05:55 with.
05:56 In the end, Bird needs the approval of at least seven of these individuals.
06:00 In the event of a tie, the casting votes would fall to both Joel and Avram, who are believed
06:05 to want to push this through, so it's almost certainly going to happen.
06:10 But, and this is the big question, is that a good thing?
06:13 Well, that depends on which side of the argument you fall on as a Man United fan.
06:18 While Ratcliffe might personally represent quite a palatable owner, especially compared
06:22 to the Qatari investment, the idea of the Glazers remaining involved in such a significant
06:27 capacity makes it a complete non-starter for big sections of the support.
06:32 Full sale only banners have been a frequent sight in Manchester United away ends both
06:37 in last season and in this.
06:39 However, to others, the problem isn't necessarily the Glazers themselves.
06:44 It's that, how can I put this, they're idiots.
06:48 A collection of incredibly average business people who've found themselves as one of the
06:52 most powerful families in the world purely by virtue of just inheriting that mantle from
06:57 their father.
06:58 They'd probably be fine if they had the first idea what they were doing, or could even admit
07:03 that they didn't, and Ratcliffe effectively buying that responsibility from them could
07:08 actually be a really good solution?
07:11 Plus, and it's all unconfirmed at this stage, but reportedly one of the reasons why Ratcliffe
07:16 is prepared to take such a small stake in the company now is because it includes some
07:21 unwritten agreements that he will continue to take further and further control as time
07:26 goes on.
07:27 So it certainly isn't a full sale now, but it might end up being one.
07:30 We'll have to think, like every single other element of this takeover, nobody's gonna know
07:36 until it just happens.
07:38 Will it go through?
07:39 What sort of power will he wield?
07:41 Will he actually be any good at it?
07:43 Is Ten Hag's job safe?
07:45 Those questions will literally only get answered one at a time, and the very first one comes
07:50 this week with that board meeting.
07:53 So yes, Manchester United fans, it looks like all your prayers are finally going to be answered,
07:58 provided that your prayers were exclusively limited to "Dear God, I hope that the Glazers
08:04 sell a minority stake in Manchester United."
08:06 I have absolutely no idea what to make of this, so if you are a Manchester United fan,
08:10 please do let us know in the comments whether this is what you want.
08:13 Is this a good thing?
08:15 Do you only want a full sale?
08:16 Is this fine if it becomes a full sale?
08:17 But it's bad if it doesn't?
08:19 Do you like the look of Ratcliffe?
08:20 Do you think he's a good person for the club?
08:22 Just anything, anything and everything, please, in the comments below.
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08:35 we get nice rounds of applause and handshakes off the people who make the decisions.
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08:40 And of course, if you fancy it, you can grab me on all the social medias, @adamcleary,
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08:49 The brand new issue of the mag is like literally two days away, and you post a comment on the
08:53 colour.
08:54 That's very exciting.
08:55 And until next time, I'm just going to shut up now.
08:57 I've been Adam Cleary.
08:58 That's the Man United situation, and I'll see you soon.
09:02 Bye.
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