Manchester United Reportedly Won't Be Sold by Glazer Family Despite Multiple Offers
September 2, 2023
The Glazer family reportedly will be taking Manchester United off the market after signaling a willingness to sell the iconic club last year, according to Jacob Leeks of the Mirror and Nick Harris and Alex Miller of the Daily Mail.
Per Leeks' report, "The Americans opened up bidding for investment or even a full buy-out of the Red Devils last year, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani quickly emerging as the frontrunners to take over from the much-hated Glazers."
He added that none of the offers came close to the "£6 billion valuation" ($7.55 billion) the family had placed on the club.
Ratcliffe's offer reportedly would have left the Glazers as minority owners, per Harris and Miller, while Qatar's Jassim was seeking to become the exclusive owner.
The reports won't be met with enthusiasm at Old Trafford, with United supporters protesting the Glazer ownership yet again to start the season. Such protests have become a growing theme.
"The Glazers are thick-skinned and won't be influenced by any negative fan reactions," a source close to the Glazers told Harris and Miller.
Kevin Palmer 💙 @RealKevinPalmerThe Glazer family were never selling Manchester United. It's their cash machine. They strung everyone along for months and now they are pulling the plug on a takeover. United are stuck with them <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MUFC?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MUFC</a>
Per both reports, the family will consider putting United back on the market in 2025, when certain conditions may lead to more favorable bids.
Harris and Miller cited an "uplift in TV rights revenues, the expansion of FIFA's Club World Cup to 32 teams from 2025, which could be very lucrative, and the forthcoming 2026 World Cup" as factors in moving the selling process back to 2025.
That edition of the World Cup will be hosted in North America, with the majority of the games being played in the United States, and could potentially "heighten the interest of American billionaires in football investments. The Glazers think this may help them sell United for between £7 billion ($8.8 billion) and £10 billion ($12.5 billion)."
Since the Glazers takeover in June 2005, United has won five Premier League titles and both the Champions League and Europa League one time apiece.
United hasn't won the league since the 2012-13 season, however, watching as neighbors Manchester City have emerged as England's dominant force, with five of the past six titles and seven total Premier League championships since the 20211-12 campaign.
United's 20 titles in the history of top-flight English football remains the most ever won by a club, one ahead of Liverpool and seven above Arsenal. But in recent years, clubs like City, Liverpool and Chelsea have seen far more success, both domestically and in Europe.